Loyer’s practice focuses in the areas of Special Education (the Individuals with Disabilities Act [IDEA]), General Education, Civil Rights and Disability Law. Kathy assists families in accessing services for children with disabilities that range from mild learning disabilities (LD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), to the severely emotionally and/or physically disabled. Kathy also covers a range
of issues in General Education. She handles negotiations and hearings involving disciplinary matters such as expulsions, suspensions and involuntary transfers. She represents children and their parents in mediations, fair hearings and all levels of negotiations regarding educational issues as well as appellate reviews in Federal District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She is a member of the United States Supreme Court bar. Loyer also handles issues relating to the Regional Center and California Children’s’ Services. On occasion, her cases have received coverage in the local major media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register as well as a national TV magazine and PBS. Kathy graduated from Western State University, School of Law as a “Distinguished Student” in December 1996. She has been licensed by the California Bar since June 1997. Prior to graduating from law school, Kathy acquired extensive experience as a workshop leader and public speaker and educational consultant to attorneys regarding issues of special education. She started her speaking career in 1979 as a seminar moderator with SmokEnders International, where she taught a smoking cessation program based in positive behavioral modification. Because of the individual, special needs of her family, she became very active in the arena of special education. Living in Massachusetts at the time, she founded and chaired the Attleboro Massachusetts Parent Advisory Council on Special Education and a local parent support group. She went on to serve on the Massachusetts Southeast Regional Advisory Committee. She was also a Commissioner on the Massachusetts State Advisory Commission on Special Education (SAC). She was nominated as Secretary of the SAC shortly before moving to California. Her other activities in Massachusetts included the writing of several guests columns in the local newspaper on Special Education and related subjects. She authored a parent handbook on special education, published by the local school district. Kathy also acted as a volunteer educational advocate for many families in Massachusetts. She was nominated and received honorable mention as “The Boston Parent’s Paper” child advocate of the year in 1989. In the same year was nominated for citizen of the year in Attleboro, Massachusetts. She received honorable mention from Soroptimist International of Capistrano Bay as a “Woman of Distinction” in 1995. Here in California, she has acted as a parent representative to the California Association of Private Special Education & Services (CAPSES) board of directors and in 1992 she was appointed to the California Department of Education Seriously Emotionally Disturbed Advisory Board. She founded Partners in Education, an educational collaborative that focused on the early identification and intervention of children with special needs. Loyer conducted teaching seminars on “Effective Communication Skills,” “Understanding ADD, A Mother’s Point of View,” “Parents Rights & Responsibilities in Accessing Special Education Services for their Child,” as well as consulting with other attorneys in the area of Education Law. She is a former member of the board of directors for the Alex Foundation for Traumatic Brain Injury and a former member of the Professional Advisory Board for the Alex Center, a non-public school and residential facility for children with traumatic brain injury. When the Alex Center closed its doors in August of 2003, she was instrumental in assisting the founders in establishing the Tustin Center for Traumatic Brain. She is a member of the advisory board for the Whittier Law School Children’s Law Center. She is a frequent presenter to educationally related parent support groups and community outreach efforts. She has been a presenter at Fiesta Educativa and other educationally related parent support groups and community outreach efforts. She is a presenter at trainings for the California Department of Education, ALJ training for the California Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) and has been frequent presenter at the Hispanic Bar Association MCLE seminars. Loyer is a trained mediator (Mediation Center, Irvine CA) and has an excellent reputation in the educational community for her negotiation skills. She has also offered her services as a volunteer attorney for the Orange County Bar Association’s Public Law Center’s Pro bono “ARC” (Attorneys Representing Children) program and has been a volunteer and trainer in the area of educational law for the PLC’s Educational Law Pro Bono Panel. She was one of the original appointees of the Orange County Juvenile Court educational attorney panel, where she assisted in matters relating to educational issues and/or children with special needs. Loyer has conducted training seminars on education law for the Juvenile Court bench as well as the OC SSA, Probation Department and court staff. She also participated as a senior member of the Orange County Juvenile Court’s work group, which worked to develop a best practices manual for the Court and Orange County education agencies relating to court involved students. In addition to her busy law practice and her work in educational advocacy and community outreach throughout Southern California, she is also available for in-service trainings and speaking engagements.
