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DIANA S. GONDEK has accrued more than 30 years of experience as an attorney in education law in the public sector. She has specialized in the practice of school law since she was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1973. Ms. Gondek has demonstrated her litigation, negotiation and collective bargaining skills. She is an experienced lecturer and presenter, and she is a published author. Ms. Gondek possesses effective research, analytical, and problem solving abilities. She has strong interpersonal and communication skills, and she is a dedicated, fair minded and creative professional. Ms. Gondek teaches a course on school law in Graduate General Education at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and an online graduate school level course on school law with Fitchburg State College. She represented the prevailing parties in the cases of Matthews v. School Committee of Bedford, 22 Mass.App.Ct.374, 494 N.E.2d 38 (1986) and School Committee of Holbrook v. Holbrook Education Association). Ms. Gondek has written The Massachusetts School Law Digest which was published bi-monthly by the Massachusetts Association of School Business Officials (MASBO) from 1993 to 2003. She is a member of the American and the Massachusetts bar associations, and the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society. Ms. Gondek earned her B.A. degree from Duke University and her J.D. degree from Boston University School of Law. She is also admitted to practice at the New York State Bar Association. EILEEN M. HAGERTY is a partner in the Boston law firm of Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP. She concentrates her practice in special education law. Ms. Hagerty represents parents and students at all stages of the special education process, from pre-litigation advice through mediations, administrative hearings, court proceedings, and appeals. Before coming to Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP in 1996, she spent more than six years with a small Boston litigation firm (Kern, Sosman, Hagerty, Roach & Carpenter, P.C.), of which she was a founding member. Ms. Hagerty also served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, as a litigation associate at Bingham Dana LLP, as a special assistant district attorney for Middlesex County, and as law clerk to the Honorable Frederick B. Lacey of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Detroit and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. Ms. Hagerty participates in various public service activities, including serving as chair of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Advocates for Children. Ms. Hagerty lectures and writes frequently on topics in special education law. DANIEL TS HEFFERNAN is a partner with Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, LLP, and concentrates his practice in special education, civil rights and personal injury. Mr. Heffernan graduated magna cum laude from Boston College in 1981 where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1987. He has extensive trial experience, and has litigated matters both in Massachusetts and throughout the United States. Mr. Heffernan has served on the faculty of Harvard Law School's Trial Advocacy Program, instructing law students in trial preparation and trial techniques. From 1995 to 2007 he served as the president of the board of directors of the Federation for Children with Special Needs, and in 2002 he and his wife, Julie, received the Dr. Allen C. Crocker Award of Excellence by the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. Mr. Heffernan writes and lectures frequently on special education law and advocacy. He has been named a Super Lawyer in special education every year since 2005. From 1995 to 2000, he served as the president of the board of directors of Community Legal Services and Counseling Center. Mr. Heffernan is a corporate member of the Greater Boston Legal Services and has served as a hearing officer for the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. ALISIA E. ST. FLORIAN is an associate attorney at Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, LLP in the firm's Special Education Law Group, representing school districts in special education disputes. Ms. St. Florian received her bachelor's degree from Bates College, her master's degree in education in counseling psychology from Boston University and her juris doctorate, with honors, from Suffolk University Law School. While in law school, Ms. St. Florian was a member of the Moot Court Honor Board and published in the Suffolk Journal of Trial and Appellate Advocacy. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. St. Florian worked for five years as a victim/witness advocate in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, Child Abuse Unit, and for seven years in a general civil litigation firm where part of her practice included the representation of children and parents in special education matters. Ms. St. Florian has been appointed by the Norfolk County Juvenile Court to serve as a guardian ad litem/educational advocate and by the Department of Education to serve as an educational surrogate parent.
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