Marlies Spanjaard, Esq., Director of Education Advocacy

YAD Administration Office
44 Bromfield Street, 6th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
617.910.5841 (p)
617.507.6363 (f)
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Marlies Spanjaard is the Director of Education Advocacy for The Edlaw Project, an initiative of the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts and the Youth Advocacy Division. EdLaw advocates for the education rights of Massachusetts’ highest risk children. As the Director of Education Advocacy, Ms. Spanjaard is responsible for supervising staff attorneys and interns, making program-wide policy decisions, and conducting state-wide trainings on education-related issues with a specific focus on representing court-involved youth. Prior to serving as coordinator Ms. Spanjaard was a staff attorney at the Edlaw Project and, in that role, represented students in school disciplinary hearings, special education team meetings, and administrative hearings before the Bureau of Special Education Appeals. Ms. Spanjaard has trained a wide variety of audiences including parents, youth workers, students, and lawyers. Ms. Spanjaard as an adjunct instructor at Wheelock College in the  Juvenile Justice and Youth Advocacy Department.  She earned her J.D. and her M.S.W. at Washington University Law School and George Warren Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, Missouri.