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Robert K. Crabtree, who with Lawrence Kotin founded the firm's special education practice, graduated from Bowdoin College cum laude in 1967, from Andover Newton Theological School cum laude in 1971 and from the Northeastern University School of Law in 1976. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1977 and to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1980. As Research Director for the Legislature's Joint Committee on Education, he drafted much of the Massachusetts special education law (Chapter 766 of the Acts of 1972) with Mr. Kotin and was instrumental in its final passage and implementation. Mr. Crabtree concentrates his practice in the areas of education law and special education law. He is the author of numerous articles concerning special education law and advocacy and has spoken widely on related subjects. He is a frequent contributor of articles regarding special education law and advocacy law at www.familyeducation.com and at www.wrightslaw.com . He co-authored with Mr. Kotin, Special Education: Past, Present and Future, Boston Bar Journal, March/April 1993, and A Handbook on Legal Rights of Disabled People in Massachusetts, Federation for Children with Special Needs, 1987. With William Aikman and Mr. Kotin, he co-authored the Legal Handbook for Day Care Centers, funded and published by the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1981. Mr. Crabtree also co-authored, with Eileen Hagerty, Special Education: Advocating on Behalf of Students and Parents," published in MCLE's School Law in Massachusetts (2003; updated version pending 2007). In May 2005, Mr. Crabtree was a co-recipient, with Mr. Kotin, of the Martha Ziegler Founder's Award given by the Federation for Children with Special Needs, recognizing their part in the origins of Chapter 766 and their "decades of dedication to students with disabilities and their families." Before founding Kotin, Crabtree & Strong, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Walter J. Skinner of the United States District Court for Massachusetts and worked in the litigation department of Herrick and Smith, a large Boston law firm that has since disbanded. | 