Meet Our Practice
Experience, Passion, Diligence Representing Students & Their Families Only
After years as civil and commercial litigation attorneys, sisters Lori Kirsch-Goodwin & Hope Kirsch opened their law firm back in 2006 to serve students (pre-K, K-12 and higher education) and their families throughout Arizona. Lori is the parent of an adult on the spectrum while Hope was a special education teacher. They draw on their backgrounds, committed to helping each and every student they represent.
They regularly advise and represent students in connection with IEPs and IEP meetings, 504s and 504 meetings, OCR complaints, MDRs, discipline matters and disciplinary hearings (general education and special education students), and file and litigate Due Process Complaints and appeals, and DDD appeals.
Lori and Hope are consistently rated by their peers as Top Education Lawyers in Arizona (Phoenix Magazine).
Attorney Lori Kirsch-Goodwin
As the mother of a young adult with special needs, Lori navigated the public school system as both a parent and attorney beginning when one of her twin boys was found eligible for an IEP back in Kindergarten.
Lori has a Bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and her law degree from Bridgeport (now Quinnipiac) University. She is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in New York, New Jersey, Arizona and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Lori prevailed in a case before the 9th Circuit involving the appropriateness of a school’s location of a private school for a student on the spectrum. She is an AV® Preeminent rated attorney and also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Superior Court of Arizona.
Attorney Hope Kirsch
Before Hope became a lawyer, she was a special education teacher and school administrator for nearly 20 years in the New York City public schools in self-contained classes, separate special education schools, day treatment programs and hospital schools. Hope earned a B.S. cum laude in Special Education from Boston University (1975), an M.A.(Ed.) in Special Education focusing on students with emotional disabilities from New York University (1977), and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School (1991). She is admitted to the state and federal courts of Arizona, New York and New Jersey, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hope also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the Superior Court of Arizona.