FAQs

Our engagements are normally per School Year, we keep the engagement open until that school year’s complaints are resolved. For us to help you with the 2026/2027 school year you will need a new Engagement Letter.

• We are offering an Early Bird discount on your Engagement Fee
• Once you retain our firm, you are no longer alone in managing your child's educational needs or handling your communications with the DOE. You will have legal advice at each step of the process as well as a support team to share the procedural burdens and decision-making process with you.
• Our staff always works hard to achieve the most for you and your child, but early enrollment allows us to get a head-start on YOU. This means we have more time to speak with you and strategize and our calendars are more flexible. We will be able to focus on the facts of your case without having to worry about following up with you for your retainer agreement.
• As the start of the school year approaches, schedules become tighter and there is a shorter turnaround time for all case preparation activities.
• We can plan to work better with your schedule, not during your summer vacations.
• We will have more time to speak to you before the Ten-Day-Notice filing deadline, to make sure all information is accurate.
• This will enable us to prepare the most comprehensive and accurate Ten-Day Notices and Complaints and set the stage for the best case. You will also have more time to review these documents, add/clarify additional elements, and have any questions answered before the filing deadlines.
• We can proactively develop the facts for your 2026-2027 school year matter so that by the time of the Complaint filing, all the facts will be lined up for a solid case.
• If you have any questions about the upcoming school year or a new IEP meeting is convened in late winter or the spring, we will automatically be able to assist you. This is important. We cannot prepare you for IEP meetings, review IEPs, or help you evaluate potential schools without a retainer on file.
• IEP prep is necessary for Parents to enter IEP meetings fashioned with the Dos and Don'ts of the IEP process.
• Similarly, we can help prepare you for school tours.
• School tour prep is necessary for Parents to know what questions to ask school officials to determine if a placement is or is not appropriate.
• We can help you disagree with DOE's recommended program and placements. A key aspect of fact development is identifying why a DOE program and placement is inappropriate and informing the CSE of your concerns.
• We will be available to prepare IEP and placement rejection letters, identify nuanced areas of disagreement, and have you best positioned to file a complaint come the start of the school year.

Strong, proactive fact development is especially important because the DOE is making it more difficult for Parents to get school funding their children need.

Payment is due one month before an initially scheduled hearing date, or immediately upon notification of the hearing date, in the event the IHO does not provide 30 days' advance notice. Although a hearing date may be pushed back, we need to begin preparing with the presumption that it will go on as scheduled.

The hearing fee must be paid in full before hearing preparation activities can be commenced. In cases of financial hardship, we can request an adjournment of the hearing to postpone the need to pay the fee, but granting adjournments is solely up to the IHO; a delay cannot be guaranteed.

If the case settles before the hearing starts, we will refund any portion of the hearing fee that exceeds the hourly rate for the hearing-preparation activities already completed. If you choose to withdraw your complaint instead of proceeding to the hearing, no portion of the hearing fee is refundable but, under certain circumstances, it can be applied to a future hearing if we later re-file the case for the same school year.

Implementation is the process of getting the Department of Education to pay what they’ve agreed to (as part of a settlement), or have been ordered to (in a hearing decision), pay to you, your school, your specialists.

As part of your initial Engagement fee, The Law Offices of Adam Dayan submits all of the documentation needed for the DOE to issue the required disbursements. If the DOE does not issue the payments timely, we will follow up twice at no additional cost to you.

After the initial submission and the two follow-ups, we can provide you with the information you need to continue following up with the DOE directly until the payments are issued. If you choose to undertake that process, you do not have to pay an implementation fee. If you wish us to continue following up with the DOE until all payments have been made, we will charge you a fee equal to 2% of the funds due from the DOE. You do not have to pay this fee up front; we will deduct it from the funds we receive on your behalf from the DOE.

When there is an active (undecided) case pending, the DOE is required to continue providing or funding the program and services identified in the last prior hearing decision or uncontested IEP. If our firm represents you for the pending case, pursing payments under a pendency agreement is included in the initial engagement fee. There is no additional fee. If we do not represent you for the pending case, we do not pursue pendency payments from the DOE.

Probably yes. Unless we've instructed you that you need a new IEP for your current school year's case, the next IEP meeting is part of the strategy and decisions for next year's educational placements, supports and case. We need no less than 10 days' notice of an upcoming IEP meeting for our team to discuss strategy and schedule a time to have a prep meeting with you.

Your renewal retainer includes deadlines for discounts and a deadline after which we cannot guarantee representation, depending on your expected school start date. It is important that you review these deadlines, as most firms will have limited openings for new clients by this point in the year.

Each case is different and when work starts for the next year varies, but no matter what, if your situation changes and you decide not to pursue a case next year we'll apply your retainer flat fee to the billable hours and refund you the difference. We do our best to keep early work to a minimum but we highly advise against risking next year's case if you expect that you may continue to use services. Reach out and we can speak to you about your specific case and potential risks.