Leah Snyder Batchis

Leah is a founding partner of Batchis & Nesle, a tireless advocate, and a Philadelphian with a life-long commitment to public education.  Leah devotes her practice to helping families to obtain appropriate educational programming and placement for their students through the cooperative process outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including the IEP process and informal meetings.  She represents students from early intervention until age 22.  After more than a decade of representing more than a thousand families living in the 5-county region and beyond, Leah enjoys a reputation of being very highly skilled at developing creative solutions to complex educational issues.  On those occasions where this cooperative process falls short, Leah is highly experienced in navigating the dispute resolution process outlined in the IDEA and Pennsylvania law and implemented through Pennsylvania Department of Education, Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR), including mediation, hearing officer settlement conferences, discipline hearings and manifestation determinations, due process hearings, and judicial review in federal court.  Through the IDEA’s dispute resolution process, Leah has obtained tuition reimbursement and compensatory education for students eligible for special education under each of the IDEA disability categories, including Autism, Deaf-blindness, Deafness, hearing disability, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, speech/language impairment, Other Health Impairment, Emotional Disturbance, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, and specific learning disability.  She has been successful in maintaining students’ placements through manifestation determinations and disciplinary proceedings.  Through the administrative process, Leah also obtains independent educational evaluations and related services, including speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy.