Dean Michael Kaufman serves as Director of the ChildLaw and Education Institute as well as Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago. Dean Kaufman is the author of countless books and articles on education law and policy, including the leading text-book used in law school and education classes devoted to education: Education Law, Policy and Practice (2009). He has been a member of the law school faculty for more than 25 years, and teaches courses in education law, education policy and comparative education law.

Dean Kaufman also has been elected to three terms as a member of the board of education for a large, diverse elementary school district in the Chicago area, and has served as its president and vice-president. Before joining the law school faculty, Dean Kaufman litigated education and disability rights issues at a leading law firm, clerked for Judge Nathaniel Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and counseled the parties in the Kansas City school desegregation matter.

Miranda Johnson is the Associate Director of the ChildLaw and Education Institute. Before assuming this position, she served for two years as the Salisbury Clinical Teaching Fellow in Child and Family Law in Loyola’s Civitas ChildLaw Clinic. In that capacity, she supervised law students in the representation of children in child protection and child custody cases and in the representation of parents and students in school discipline and special education cases.

Before joining Loyola, Ms. Johnson worked as a staff attorney at Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), where she represented parents of students with disabilities in administrative proceedings to obtain appropriate educational services. She also represented parents and students in federal class action lawsuits to remedy systemic legal violations with respect to education in New York City. Prior to working at AFC, she clerked for the Honorable Allyne R. Ross, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. She also co-led a project for the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-Kenya Country Office to apply a human rights-based framework to primary education. Prior to law school, Ms. Johnson taught high school social studies prior to law school. She holds a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Kathleen Hirsman is the Institute’s Senior Lecturer in Residence. Ms. Hirsman has over 25 years of experience in school law practice, representing and counseling school districts in board governance issues, student issues, labor and personnel matters, collective bargaining, special education, general litigation, and in a general corporate advisory capacity. She also has prior experience teaching English as a second language in public schools and at the college level. Ms. Hirsman is an adjunct faculty member of the graduate departments of education of Benedictine University and Concordia University, and she has taught graduate courses in school law for over 20 years. Ms. Hirsman is a member of the National School Boards Association, Council of School Attorneys; and the Illinois Association of School Boards, Illinois Council of School Attorneys. She holds a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a Master's degree in Linguistics from the University of Illinois.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON EDUCATION LAW AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO SCHOOL OF LAW:

In addition to the leadership of the ChildLaw and Education Institute, the following faculty and staff members teach substantive education law courses and/or oversee volunteer opportunities in the education law field and can serve as a valuable resource to students on matters relating to curriculum and/or job opportunities:

Carol Ashley, Adjunct Faculty 
Mary Bird, Director of Public Interest Programs 
Hillary Coustan, Adjunct Faculty and Director of the Education Law Practicum 
Jill Dressner, Adjunct Faculty 
Josie Gough, Director of Experiential Learning 
Maureen Hager, Adjunct Faculty
Maureen Kieffer, Associate Director of Career Services and Public Service Law 
Monica Llorente, Adjunct Faculty
Micki Moran, Adjunct Faculty