Howard J. Fulfrost is a partner in the Los Angeles office.  Mr. Fulfrost is a recognized legal leader in special education and student-related matters; and, in particular, the legal obligations of local educational agencies to students with disabilities.  He has been an education attorney since graduating from law school.  In that capacity, he represents and advises school districts, county offices of education, and special education local plan areas with regard to all aspects of special education law and practice.   Whether assisting personnel to prepare for a difficult IEP team meeting or providing one-on-one coaching to a new special education administrator, Mr. Fulfrost enjoys proactively collaborating school districts.  A popular presenter, Mr. Fulfrost is asked to speak throughout the country on a variety of special education legal topics.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Fulfrost was an associate, and then a shareholder, with another California education law firm.  While at that firm, he was co-chairperson of the Special Education Practice Group – leading its growth to California’s largest and most well-recognized special education practice.  Prior to that time, Mr. Fulfrost  was employed as staff counsel for the Division of Special Education at Los Angeles Unified School District.  In that position, he represented the District in hundreds of due process cases and provided on-going legal support to every level of District administration in all areas of special education law.  Before law school, Mr. Fulfrost coordinated a community-based program in two New York City high schools.  As an undergraduate, he was a student teacher in special education at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute (now Semel Institute) in-patient school. 

Mr. Fulfrost earned his law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1993.  He holds a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.  In 2004, 2005, and 2006, Mr. Fulfrost was named a Southern California Rising Star by Los Angeles Magazine.  He is currently a member of the LRP Special Education School Attorneys Conference Advisory Council.  He is also earning his Doctor of Education degree with a concentration in K-12 Leadership in Urban School Settings from the University of Southern California.