Special Education and School-to-Prison Pipeline: Statutory and Judicial Interventions to Interrupt or Redirect the Pipeline Part 2: Strategies for Judges and Practitioners With Students With Disabilities

A native of Orlando, Florida, Bob Cohen graduated from Brandeis University with a B.A. in American Studies. He graduated in December 1981 from the Florida State University College of Law, where he served on the Law Review. After more than 20 years in private practice, concentrating in administrative and civil law representing large companies, professional licensees and consumer associations, Bob was appointed by the Governor and Cabinet in October 2003, as the Director and Chief Judge of DOAH, which includes under its umbrella, the Office of Judges of Compensation Claims.

Bob currently serves as Vice Chair-Elect of the National Conference of the Administrative Law Judiciary, is a Past President of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary, and is Treasurer of the National Association of Workers’ Compensation Judiciary. Locally, he serves on the Second Judicial Circuit Professionalism Committee, as an alumni member of the William Stafford Inn of Court, as a Past President of the Tallahassee Bar Association, as a two-time Past President of the Legal Aid Foundation, and has held or holds leadership roles in numerous community organizations. He is a Fellow of the Florida Bar Foundation, the American Bar Foundation, and a Charter Life Mentor of the National Administrative Law Judiciary Foundation. He is also a past recipient of the Florida Bar?s Pro Bono Service Award for the Second Judicial Circuit and the Tallahassee Bar Association’s Lifetime Professionalism Award. Bob is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in State and Federal Government and Administrative Practice. Bob is a frequent speaker on topics related to administrative law to various legal organizations, in the classroom,and is a regular participant in the Pat Dore Administrative Law Conference. He has also authored several articles and chapters in legal publications.

Justice Peggy A. Quince was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1948. Justice Quince graduated in 1970 from Howard University with a B.S. Degree in Zoology; she received her J.D. Degree from the Catholic University of America in 1975. While a law student she was active in Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity and the Black American Law Students Association; she received an award for her work with Catholic's Neighborhood Legal Services Clinic. In 1999, she received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the Stetson University College of Law. In 2004, she received an honorary doctor of laws degree from St. Thomas University School of Law and Nova. Justice Quince began her legal career in Washington, D.C. as a hearing officer with the Rental Accommodations Office administering that city's new rent control law. In 1977 she entered private practice in Norfolk, Virginia, with special emphasis in real estate and domestic relations.

She moved to Florida in 1978 and opened a law office in Bradenton, Florida, where she practiced general civil law until 1980. In February, 1980, Justice Quince began her tenure with the Attorney General's Office, Criminal Division. As an assistant attorney general she handled numerous appeals in the Second District Court of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, including death penalty cases, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Her thirteen and a half year tenure at that office included five years as the Tampa Bureau Chief. Additionally, three years were spent handling death penalty cases exclusively, on direct appeal and in postconviction proceedings.

Justice Quince is a member of The Florida Bar, Virginia State Bar, the National Bar Association, the Tallahassee Women Lawyers, and the William H. Stafford Inn of Court. She is an active member of the Government Lawyers Section andthe Criminal Law Section of The Florida Bar. She is a former member of the George Edgecomb Bar Association, the Hillsborough County Bar Association, Hillsborough Association of Women Lawyers, and the Tampa Bay Inn of Court. Justice Quince's former Florida Bar activities include membership on the Gender Equality Committee, the Criminal Law Certification Committee, and the Executive Councils of the Government Lawyers and Criminal Law Section.

Presently, Justice Quince is on the executive counsel of the Appellate Section of The Florida Bar and is the Supreme Court liaison to the Small Claims Rules Committee and the Supreme Court Library Committee. She is also liaison for the following State Courts System Advisory Committees; Commission on District Court of Appeal Performance and Accountability, the Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy, the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Task Force and the Local Rules Advisory Committee. She has lectured at a number of Continuing Legal Education programs on issues involving search and seizure, probation and parole, use of peremptory challenges, postconviction relief, professionalism and ethics, and the independence of the judiciary.

In 1993 Justice Quince became the first African-American female to be appointed to one of the district courts of appeal with her appointment by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Second District Court of Appeal to a term effective January 4, 1994. She was retained in office by the electorate in November 1996. On December 8, 1998, Justice Quince was appointed by the late Governor Lawton Chiles and Governor-elect Jeb Bush to the Florida Supreme Court. Justice Quince is a member of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Her civic and community activities include membership in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Jack and Jill of America, Inc., the Urban League, the NAACP, and The Links, Inc.

Justice Quince has received the following honors and awards: 2017, National Bar Association Hall of Fame; 2017, Women Lawyers Division Jurist of the Year; 2017 Sharon Press Excellence in ADR; 2008, Lifetime Achievement Award by The Florida Bar's Government Lawyer Section; Florida Commission on the Status of Women, 2007 Florida Women's Hall of Fame award; American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession; 2007 Justice Quince was inducted into Florida Blue Key as an honorary member; 2006 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award; 2006 Rickards High School Outstanding School Volunteer Award; 2005 Key to the City of Winter Haven; 2005 Richard W. Ervin Equal Justice Award; 2004 Key to the City of Panama City, Florida; 2004 Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Black Law Student Association Alumni Achievement Award; 2004 Lee County Association for Women Lawyers and the Lee County Bar Association Award for dedication to the promotion of equality in law and outstanding service as a distinguished member of the Florida judiciary; 2002 Florida Bar Equal Opportunities in the Profession Award; 2002 Florida Girls State Award; 2003 Helping Hand Award; 2003 Southern Women in Public Service Pacesetter Award; 2003 Florida Girls State Award; 2003 Pioneering the Future in our Community Award; 2003 Outstanding Jurist and Howard University Alumna Award; 2001 William H. Hastie Award from the National Bar Association Judicial Council; National Bar Association Presidential Achievement Award; Girl Scouts, Woman of Distinction Award, 2001; National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division Jurist Award for Outstanding Leadership Achievements and Dedicated Service to the Community At Large; Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association for Service on the Bench; Virgil Hawkins Bar Association Award for Community Service and Advancement of Equal Justice Under Law; the Virgil Hawkins Bar Association Certificate for Achievement in Jurisprudence; the Fort Lauderdale High School Award for participating in the School Law Magnet Program; the Broward County School Board Appreciation Award for Inspiration and Devotion to Our Youth; Award of Distinguished Service and Continuing Commitment to the People of Florida from the Fort Lauderdale B'nai B'rith; Proclamation from the Broward Board of County Commissioners stating that February 28, 1999, as "The Honorable Peggy A. Quince Appreciation Day"; Hillsborough County Sheriff's Black Advisory Council Appreciation Award; Lakeland NAACP Award for Contribution to Civil Rights; the African-American Production Company Personal Achievement Award; Paul C. Perkins Bar Association Appreciation Award; Florida State University College of Law Appreciation Certificate for Contributions made to Summer Law Program For Undergraduate Students; Certificate from the Office of the Attorney General, Florida Crime Prevention Training Institute for Exemplary Contributions to Crime Prevention in the State of Florida; and 2016, inducted into Stetson University College of Law Hall of fame.

Lisa Lukasik is a seasoned litigator with over a decade of experience representing local boards of education through all stages of litigation. Her scholarship and teaching reflect her career as an advocate on behalf of school boards, administrators, teachers, and students.

Lukasik received the 2011-2012 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research based upon her contributions to legal scholarship in the area of public school law, including recent articles in the North Carolina Law Review on charter school funding and in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law on the educational rights of children with disabilities.

Business Leader Magazine named Lukasik one of the Triangle’s 2011 Women Extraordinaire in recognition of her leadership and service to the legal profession.

Lukasik presents nationally and regionally to educators, academics, and attorneys on various topics in education law, effective teaching strategies, and counseling students toward professional satisfaction and happiness.

Lukasik earned her B.A. with honors from Washington University in St. Louis and graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She began her professional career as a junior college English teacher first in Kolobrzeg, Poland and later in Huntsville, Alabama. After several years as an English teacher, she returned to school and earned a J.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law. She graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif and served as a published member of the North Carolina Law Review, a founding editor of the North Carolina Banking Institute Publication, and an Honors Writing Scholar.

She clerked for the Honorable Willis P. Whichard on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Lukasik came to Campbell Law from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law and as the Director of the law school’s bar success program.

Lukasik joined the Campbell Law faculty in 2009.

Julius H. Corpening, II is the chief district court judge for the 5th Judicial District, serving New Hanover and Pender counties of North Carolina. He was appointed to the court by former Governor James Martin in September 1991. Corpening was most recently re-elected in 2012 to another four-year term. Corpening spent 12 years as a private practice lawyer with Carlton Pricket prior to his judicial appointment in 1991.

Corpening received his B.A. in biology from Wake Forest University in 1976 and his J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1979.