For a parent, the process of securing appropriate services for a child in school can often be overwhelming, intimidating, and exhausting.  After experiencing this firsthand, Karen Edler has become a powerful advocate for parents who desperately need help understanding and navigating their children's education rights.

Karen is of counsel at Price Meese Shulman & D'Arminio, P.C.  She has nearly twenty years of education law experience, and has been a volunteer with VLJ's Children's Representation Program (CRP), from taking pro bono cases to serving as a mentor for attorneys new to the area of law, since just after its establishment.

Karen obtained her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College and her law degree from New York Law School.  She then worked in several different law firms, practicing in tax law, commercial real estate and leasing, and litigation.  After her children were born, she took time off from work.  When Karen's son was in second grade, however, he began struggling in math class and needed extra support.  Karen's experience in trying to obtain services from the school district opened her eyes to a frustrating and confusing process, even when she knew her legal rights.  "I realized how difficult battling a school district can be," Karen says.  "I thought, 'What do parents do who don't have the ability to read and learn the law?  How does anyone survive?'"