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December 2 - Harrisburg JEFFREY F. CHAMPAGNE is a member in the law firm of McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC, in Harrisburg, where he practices education law and disability law as part of the Education Law Group. His practice emphasizes special education, disability law, administrative law, school finance and government relations. Mr. Champagne served for five years as Chief Counsel to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and previously as trial attorney and program manager in the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. He is nationally recognized in the area of special education law, and well versed in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504, the ADA, and the fiscal, employment and other provisions of the Pennsylvania Public School Code. He earned his B.A., M.A., and J.D. degree from the University of Michigan. Mr. Champagne is a member of the Pennsylvania and Dauphin County bar associations and the Gaskin Advisory Panel on Least Restrictive Environment. He has also been listed in the The Best Lawyers in America® in education law and was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer® in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. SHARON M. O'DONNELL is a shareholder with Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where her areas of practice include employment law, professional liability and education law. Ms. O'Donnell defends school districts in due process matters brought under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act and related federal and state statutes where a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is typically disputed or related educational services are challenged relating to both gifted and disabled students. Her litigation and trial practice focuses on the defense of private and public entities in a wide array of professional liability and employment law matters, education law matters, medical liability, complex general liability, and class action matters brought in federal and state courts, state agencies, labor boards, and educational agencies. She has published several articles, some of which have appeared in the Pittsburgh Legal Journal and the Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly. She also speaks to various organizations on employment, education, and professional liability litigation issues. Ms. O'Donnell was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star by Philadelphia Magazine in the area of employment law in 2005. She earned her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and her J.D. degree from Widener University School of Law. Ms. O'Donnell is a member of the American, Pennsylvania, and Dauphin County bar associations. WILLIAM MARTIN SLOANE is an attorney in Maryland and Pennsylvania. He also serves as pro-chancellor of International University for Graduate Studies and is of counsel to The Shagin Law Group LLC in Harrisburg. An adjunct professor at Widener University School of Law, he has taught education/school law there and at Shippensburg and Temple University. He earned his B.A. degree from York College of Pennsylvania, his M.A.R. degree from Liberty University, his J.D. degree from Widener University, his LL.M. degree from Temple University, and his Ph.D. from American Christian College and Seminary. Dr. Sloane is board-certified in professional counseling; he chairs the American College of Counselors; is past chair of the American Board of Forensic Counselors; and former Democratic Chief Counsel and Compliance and Ethics Director of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. December 5 - Scranton ANGELA J. ULIANA-MURPHY is a partner in the law firm of Murphy & Murphy, P.C., where she specializes in special education law and family law. Ms. Uliana-Murphy graduated from Muhlenberg College and the Dickinson School of Law and has been practicing law for twenty years. Since 1990, she has served as the Title IV-D Advocate for Northampton County Domestic Relations. In addition to representing plaintiffs in Northampton County child support cases, she practices all areas of family law. Since entering the practice of law, she has represented clients in divorces, custody actions, PFAs and adoptions. Ms. Uliana-Murphy also specializes in education law, representing parents and children in special education and discipline cases. As part of this practice, she represents clients in public health care disputes and juvenile court. She has been an advocate for children with disabilities, assisting in founding a support group for parents of children with Aspergers Disorder. Ms. Uliana-Murphy frequently speaks on special education issues and has significant experience in cases involving children with autism spectrum disorder. ERIN D. GILSBACH is an attorney and the Director of Professional Education and Policy Development at the law firm of King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, LLC. Ms. Gilsbach oversees the Greyfriars Institute's K-12 Leaders and Educators Act 48 Professional development series. In that capacity, she designs the curriculum for the professional development series and conducts many of the courses offered, which address a variety of pertinent legal topics for educators and administrators. Attorney Gilsbach has traveled across the state presenting professional development programs on a variety of education law topics. In addition to her work in the area of professional development in education law, Attorney Gilsbach practices both regular and special education law and has specific expertise in Board Policy development and review. She also litigates special education matters and counsels school clients on a wide variety of legal matters, both in regular and special education. Prior to joining KingSpry, Attorney Gilsbach served for two years as legal intern at the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Chief Counsel. In that capacity, she gained experience with such topics as NCLB implementation, teacher certification and decertification, teacher tenure, mandate waivers and taxation issues, including the implementation of Act 72. She handled a significant number of teacher decertification and teacher tenure cases at the Department level, advocating on behalf of PDE before both administrative panels and the Commonwealth Court. Ms. Gilsbach began her career in education in the public school classroom. She was a full-time public high school teacher for three years prior to entering law school, where she taught 10th, 11th and 12th grade English classes at both the general and honors levels. She earned her B.A. degree in English with a minor in Secondary Education from Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. While teaching high school English, she pursued a Masters in Education degree from Pennsylvania State University. She earned her J.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law, where she was a member of the Trial Moot Court Board and the recipient of several awards, including the Jurisprudence Award; the Law, Science and Policy Award; and the CALI Award for distinction in Law, Science, and Policy seminar. During law school, Ms. Gilsbach served as a Legal Research Assistant to Intellectual Property Law Professor Eileen Kane. Ms. Gilsbach is a member of the Northampton County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. TIMOTHY E. GILSBACH is an attorney at Fox Rothschild LLP in the Blue Bell office. He is also a member of the firm's Education Group, concentrating his practice in the area of special education. Mr. Gilsbach defends school districts, intermediate units and charter schools in all phases of special education litigation, from state level administrative hearings to federal court appeals. Mr. Gilsbach also advises clients on a wide variety of other educational law issues. He was previously associated with a regional law firm and focused his practice to litigation in a wide variety of civil matters. While in law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable J. Wesley Oler, Jr., of the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas. Mr. Gilsbach is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University's Dickinson School of Law and Messiah College.
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