Jim Gerl

Jim Gerl is a special education law consultant and is licensed to practice law in West Virginia, Illinois and the District of Columbia. Jim is the author of the award winning Special Education Law Blog, http://specialeducationlawblog.blogspot.com/ He has served as an IDEA mediator and a hearing officer for West Virginia since 1989, and he now also serves as a hearing officer for Utah; and Pennsylvania (LEAs in five counties and one IU). Jim was an IDEA hearing officer and chief mediator for Washington, D.C. (2009 to 2011), and he served as a special IDEA hearing officer for the U. S. Virgin Islands and South Dakota. He is also a state complaint investigator for New Mexico and South Dakota. He has spoken on special education law topics at numerous state, regional and national conferences, and he is a regular faculty member for the conferences of the National Association of Hearing Officials. Jim has trained hearing officers from all states, and works with a number of state departments of education on dispute resolution systems and other special education law matters. He has consulted with federal officials, including the Secretary of OSERS and the Director of OSEP, concerning rural special education issues, and he has served on a dispute resolution review panel for OSEP. Jim has received a BA from the University of Illinois-Urbana with departmental distinction in political science; a masters degree in public policy analysis from the University of Illinois-Chicago; and a law degree from the University of San Francisco.