| Glenna DeCamara Eubank Law School: Western State University Law Office of William R. Fuhrman (Ms. Eubank's husband) Attorney Glenna deCamara Eubank is a former California administrative law judge who asserts the educational rights of children with disabilities. If a school has failed to accommodate your special needs child, call (760) 479-2525. 539 Encinitas Boulevard Suite 111 Encinitas, CA 92024 FindLaw Lawyer Overview (Written before Eubank left Stutz in 2005.) Glenna deCamara Eubank was an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)/Senior Hearing Officer for several years with the Special Education Hearing Office, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Now a partner with Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz, Ms. Eubank leads the firm's special education practice. She focuses exclusively upon the representation of school districts in all areas of special education law. Ms. Eubank's lengthy background in special education, particularly her experience as an adjudicator who conducted administrative hearings, interpreted and applied special education law, and published written decisions, renders her uniquely qualified to effectively assist school districts, school board members, Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPA's) and others involved in special education issues. Ms. Eubank has been professionally and personally involved with the special education community or more than twenty years. She has worked with the California State Bar Association on special education issues. Her activities have included the creation of programs for children with special needs, and the provision of volunteer legal services to disabled individuals. Ms. Eubank has served on numerous state and local committees that address special education matters. She conducts seminars and workshops in special education. Before concentrating exclusively on the practice of special education law, Ms. Eubank was a personal injury litigator. She also served as a deputy district attorney in the Appellate and Juvenile Divisions of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. Ms. Eubank is a 1981 cum laude graduate of Western State School of Law, and holds a B.A. from San Jose State. |
| Attorney Glenna DeCamara Eubank Ms. Eubank now offers to sue on behalf of parents. Can she ethically be involved in lawsuits against the school districts her firm represented when she was working for Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz? |
| Defamation Suit |
| Severe abuse by teachers |
| Fred Kamper case |
| Vista Unified |
| Education Reform Report |
| How does Glenna Eubank make a living? Eubank gets access to special privileges for her clients from the school districts she worked for, and other lawyers in her firm worked for. It's a nice set up for Glenna. While most special education students fall through the cracks, her clients reap the benefits of her connections to public entities. The taxpayers, of course, pay all the bills for Glenna and for the special treatment her clients get at school. , Who loses? The taxpayers and students who can't hire Glenna lose. |
| Glenna Gets Good Press And she sounds deceptively like a liberal, doesn't she? That's to make parents comfortable. The Coast News San Marcos News, The Vista News and Rancho Santa Fe News Lawyer represents disabled students June 10, 2005 By Stephen Keller ENCINITAS — Representing those who cannot represent themselves is what one local lawyer hopes to achieve by opening one of the few legal practices dedicated to special education law. Glenna deCamara Eubank, a former special education administrative judge, opened her office in Encinitas last month. “There are many, many children with disabilities, and they can’t speak for themselves,” Eubank said. “They have no political clout. They don’ t vote,” she said. “They don’t make lots of money or campaign contributions.” Special education law is a complex, obscure and relatively new field of law. It dates back to the late 1970s, when the federal government started requiring states to provide public educations to children with disabilities. California and federal laws require that school districts work with parents of disabled children to set up individualized education plans and to make accommodations for special education. Navigating these laws, however, can be tricky, Eubank said. Though many teachers and district representatives mean well, teachers are not lawyers and did not go to law school. Furthermore, she said many parents are unclear on what the laws require school districts to do. The education has to be adequate but not spectacular, she said. Comparing education to cars, districts only have to offer an old “clunker” of an education. “The school district isn’t obligated to give you a Ferrari,” Eubank said. The education has to be functional — the car must be able to run and have gas in its tank — but it doesn’t have to be spectacular. “There are many parents who feel they should get a Ferrari,” Eubank said. As part of her job, she said she evaluates any new cases parents bring before her. “I want to feel confident that we will prevail.” if the dispute is going to see a judge, Eubank said. The law requires that, if parents seek a legal hearing and win, the school district reimburse the parents for any legal expenses. Because of this, Eubank said she is particularly unwilling to take cases that she does not think have merit, because she said she does not want parents having to pay her fees. Taking care of disabled children is expensive, she said, and parents have enough troubles as it is without having to be overly concerned with legal matters. “They don’t really have the time or resources to take on a battle on another front,” Eubank said. One difficulty parents may face is finding someone to represent them. Special education law is different than many other types of legal practices. For one, it falls under what is called “administrative law,” in which Eubank said most disputes are settled without a typical court trial. Rather than filing lawsuits, parents who have a grievance file for a due process hearing. Eubank said this hearing and the relationship between district and parents is not supposed to be adversarial, as is normally the case between two parties in a lawsuit. It is supposed to be a relationship in which both parties work together. In fact, Eubank said the majority of issues are settled through a mediation process without ever having to have a due process hearing in front of an administrative law judge. Most lawyers are never exposed to this. “They don’t teach special education law in law school,” Eubank said. She estimated there were only about five other lawyers in San Diego County who specialize in special education law. Last year, she said approximately 3,000 cases were filed in California, and the number grows each year. About 10 percent of the population has some sort of disability under the law, Eubank said. “That’s a lot of kids with disabilities.” So far, Eubank said response to her practice has been good, in part because of her previous experiences as a judge and a volunteer lawyer specializing in the area for a San Diego legal charity. “There’s a lot of word of mouth in this field,” she said. Ultimately, Eubank said she hopes what she does can help make society better. “I think a civilized society has an obligation to help its elderly and disabled — the people who really can’t take care of themselves,” she said. By working with districts and parents to ensure better educations for those with disabilities, Eubank said she thinks we can have a better world. Some 70 percent of prisoners are diagnosed with a disability, she said. She said she feels that giving those people a better education and a better start on life may prevent many of them from turning to crime. “It makes you wonder how much of that could be reduced had we intervened early,” Eubank said. |