Graduate parlays clinic experience into education law fellowship
Luke Lantta ’04, figured his experience in the Children’s Education Law Clinic would give him an edge as far as interviewing clients and managing a file when he took his job after law school at the Atlanta law firm of Powell Goldstein. He didn’t imagine that his understanding of special education law would come in very handy, though. That was before he was awarded the 2004 Powell Goldstein Fellowship, allowing him to spend six months with Atlanta Legal Aid where he developed a special education law practice in the Cobb County office.
“Powell Goldstein’s decision to offer me the fellowship, and to place me in the Cobb County office in particular, was based on my work at Duke with the Children’s Education Law Clinic and my experience in special education matters gained through participation in the Clinic,” Lantta reported. “The Children’s Education Law Clinic allowed me to attend and actively play a part in school meetings, negotiate with school districts, research disabilities, and really learn the law and procedure. There simply is no substitute for that kind of experience and exposure to special education issues.
“Within my first two weeks, I had four education cases with special education components,” Lantta said. “It seems the economically disadvantaged, special needs children of Cobb County desperately need an advocate or a legal organization willing to represent them in their educational matters.” Because the attorneys in the Cobb County office had not created specialized forms for use in education cases, Lantta contacted Children’s Education Law Clinic Director Jane Wettach, who shared some of the forms and templates used in the Duke Law Clinic. Lantta adapted them for use in Georgia and is now sending them out regularly.
Lantta credits his participation in the Children’s Education Law Clinic with giving him the confidence and preparation he needed to take on the challenges of handling education cases as a staff attorney at Legal Aid. “I came with invaluable hands-on experience in special education matters as well as exposure to and training in the complex world of special education law. Perhaps just as importantly, because of the Clinic, I came with a desire to fight inequality in the educational system and recognize the responsibility lawyers have to the underrepresented facing legal issues.”
Having completed his fellowship on March 1, Lantta is working as a litigator with Powell Goldstein.