About Lipson Advocacy
GCEE is led by Lipson Advocacy though a grant funded by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities specifically to convene organizations, families, and legal providers to push for practices that ensure educational equity in Georgia, working towards inclusive, quality educational opportunities for all students.
Leslie Lipson, JD, owner of Lipson Advocacy
Lipson Advocacy was founded in 2016 by Leslie Lipson, an Atlanta-based attorney who has dedicated her career to working on behalf of people with disabilities. In her almost 20 years at the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO), she assisted the Department of Justice in its GNETS investigation, led the Safe Schools Initiative, a multi-agency advocacy effort aimed at ending restraint and seclusion in Georgia public schools, and coordinated the Parent Leadership Support Project, which assisted approximately 10,000 families in advocating in the public school system on behalf of their and other’s children with disabilities.
Leslie was part of the legal team that brought GAO v. State of Georgia, the class action lawsuit filed in federal court on October 11, 2017, alleging that the state of Georgia, by denying students with disabilities the opportunity to be educated with their non-disabled peers in neighborhood schools through a system called GNETS violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This lawsuit is pushing the boundaries of how federal civil rights law is applied to the continued segregation and dismal educational opportunities offered to students with disabilities. Leslie also met regularly with both litigation teams about the current state of cases, potential advocacy areas, engagement strategy, role clarity and movement forward around organizing the coalition.
Lipson Advocacy offers advocacy solutions using general educational and special education law, from a values-based foundation and mindset of presuming competency. The practice supports both attorneys and non-attorney advocates to succeed in school-based advocacy and teaches family members, professionals and allies to stand beside students with disabilities in the advocacy world.
Lipson Advocacy has deep networks across the state, both in the legal and advocacy fields and Leslie has built contacts with students, family members, professionals, and advocates and has the demonstrated skills to connect and mobilize for change.
Leslie uses the principles of Social Role Valorization in any teachings, workshops, communication, briefs, and advocacy planning as a means of supporting people with disabilities to acquire and maintain valued social roles to access the “good things in life.” She has an active national consulting practice where she conducts strategic planning for specific advocacy and disability issues. She also leads parents, community, and advocacy group training, virtually and in-person, on topics relating to the experience of disability and advocacy. Leslie is a master facilitator who is widely known for distilling complex strategy into replicable, memorable, accessible, action plans.
