The Arizona Center for Disability Law advocates for the legal rights of persons with disabilities .....
-to be free from abuse, neglect and discrimination
-to have access to education, health care, housing and jobs, and other services in order to maximize independence and achieve equality.

(520) 327-9547 (Front Desk/Receptionist)

(520) 327-9547 (Front Desk/ Receptionist)

The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. (COPAA) is an independent, nonprofit, §501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization of attorneys, advocates and parents. Our primary mission is to secure high quality educational services for children with disabilities.

COPAA is premised on the belief that the key to effective educational programs for children with disabilities is collaboration -as equals- by parents and educators.

Advocacy Center

We are a law firm dedicated to advising and representing special needs students and their families obtain the education services to which they are entitled. Attorney Hope Kirsch was a special education teacher and school administrator for 17 years and holds several teaching and supervisory licenses in special education. Her first hand experience as a teacher is invaluable to understanding the needs of her clients. She taught children with developemental disabilities, autism, physical handicaps, learning disabled and the severely and multiply-handicapped. She holds a Bachelor's Degree from Boston University in Special Education and a Master's Degree in Special Education / Educational Pyschology from New York University, as well a J.D. from Brooklyn Law Schoo. She is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and Arizona. Hope and her sister Lori Kirsch-Goodwin are partners in their own law firm and represent students and their families throughout the state of Arizona. Lori has first hand experience as a parent of a special needs youngster and began her practice in special education law after navigating her son's issues through the school system.

Robert J. Smith, CLTC joined the financial services industry in 2000 and is Vice President of The Dollarhide Financial Group LLC, MassMutual.

Robert is one of two Special Care Planners in the state of Arizona. He helps families that care for individuals living with disabilities or other special needs create peace of mind and allows them to concentrate on living. He does this by using the Person Centered Life Care Planning Process that keeps the person with a disability or other special need as the primary focus, and develops a Life Care Plan (a coordinated program of social, medical, financial and legal strategies for people with disabilities and their families) that helps enable that person to obtain the best quality of life possible.