School Justice Project (SJP) is a nonprofit organization providing free special education legal services to DC youth ages 17-22 who are involved in the juvenile justice system. As education lawyers, we represent the oldest court-involved students in special education cases, working with our clients to ensure that they receive the education and transition services they are entitled to under federal and District law. Designed to meet the legal needs of older students in the juvenile system, SJP's model integrates education law and criminal law targeting both enforcement of the individual student's substantive education rights and protection of the liberty interest. During incarceration and upon reentry, our clients work with us to develop their cases and applicable legal claims, as well as identify educational programs or services they want to obtain through formal or informal legal advocacy. Using a variety of strategies centered on our individual clients, we incorporate direct representation, systemic work, and legal training, and youth-centered advocacy programming to obtain positive outcomes. In addition to getting results for our individual clients, we aim to generate systemwide reform to address the complex legal issues facing this discrete, older student population.For more information: Website: http://www.sjpdc.org2013 BMA Fellow: Echoing Green & Open Society Foundations 2013 Black Male Achievement Fellowship: http://www.echoinggreen.org/bma-fellowship2014 Teach For America Social Innovation Award http://www.onedayallkids.org/awards-fellowships/social-innovation-awardFair Chance Partnership: conta.cc/18yeriD and http://www.fairchancedc.org/

Through her Equal Justice Works Fellowship, sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, Claire worked at the DC Public Defender Service as a special education attorney in the Juvenile Services Program. Claire provided legal representation and advocacy in special education matters to older youth (ages 18-22) who have been adjudicated delinquent, committed to the District of Columbia’s juvenile justice agency, and placed in DC’s secure facility. During this time, Claire met Sarah Comeau, another post-graduate legal fellow at PDS, and they used the Fellowship as a model to develop their new DC nonprofit special education legal services organization, the School Justice Project.