Special Education Hearing Officer

About the role

The City of New York’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) is the nation’s largest administrative tribunal, holding more than 250,000 trials and hearings a year. As the City’s central, independent administrative law court, OATH adjudicates a wide range of matters filed by nearly every city agency, board, and commission. OATH also houses the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution which provides mediation and restorative justice support to City government agencies and the general public, and the Administrative Judicial Institute, a resource center that provides training, continuing education, research, and support services for administrative law judges and hearing officers.

Responsibilities

• Conduct hearings by remote means and in person, evaluating evidence, and maintaining administrative courtroom procedures.
• Conduct settlement conferences between parents and the New York City Department of Education.
• Issue written decisions.
• Conduct legal research regarding state and federal education laws, the IDEA, Section 504, and special education programs.
• Maintain a high degree of professionalism and effectiveness in handling assigned matters promptly.
• Handle special assignments and projects including but not limited to oral and/or written presentations.

Qualifications

• Admission to the New York State Bar; and four years of recent full-time responsible, relevant, satisfactory legal experience subsequent to admission to any bar, eighteen months of which must have been in the supervision of other attorneys, in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity, or performing highly complex and significant legal work.
• Must remain Members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.

Preferred Skills

• Possess knowledge of, and the ability to understand, the provisions of federal and state law and regulations pertaining to IDEA and Section 504 and legal interpretations of such law and regulations by federal and state courts.
• Possess knowledge of, and the ability to conduct hearings in accordance with appropriate standard legal practice and to render and write decisions in accordance with appropriate standard legal practice.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.