Reviews

My son was having enormous trouble in school and we were seeking an out of district placement. The school where we wanted him to go recommended her. She was abrupt and quite rude on the phone. She insisted I give her the name of our previous attorney who quit 2 or 3 months prior so I did. She called this person and then called me back to say she would not take our case. Talk about lawyers taking other lawyers' sides. The school who referred her was shocked to find out she refused to help us. I bet she is no longer on their referral list. In hindsight, I'm glad it didn't pan out. It saved us lots of money and heartache. Think twice!

Attorney Heather Gold is phenomenal. We have been working with her for over 10 years. She goes through every document with a fine-toothed comb and gives sage advice. She is thoughtful and meticulous, and understands the challenges faced by parents of children with special needs. Her work ultimately led to residential placement for our child in an excellent facility without ever going to court. She is the best!

Words cannot express how grateful we are to Heather. Hiring her was a game changer in our lives. She is patient, kind and knowledgeable when it comes to dealing with school systems. My son’s school district was resistant and fought hard to keep him in-district when he needed an out of district placement. Her guidance and advocacy on behalf of our son made all the difference in the world. I highly recommend Heather.

We have worked with Heather for over 6 years and we could not be happier with the results that she was able to obtain for our child. She is smart, efficient, ethical, practical, and cares passionately about making sure that children receive the education that they are entitled to under the law. She is unstoppable and it was incredibly reassuring having her advise and represent us throughout our negotiations with our school district. I am an experienced lawyer and still count Heather as one of the best lawyers I've ever encountered. I cannot imagine what our child's education and our family's life would be like if we had not hired Heather. We will always appreciate her dedication and her work on behalf of our family.

Heather is not only an exceptionally knowledgable attorney and trusted advisor, she really cares about what she does and the wellbeing of her clients. The process we went through to address our son's educational needs was extremely emotional, unpredictable and draining. But Heather kept her eye on our son's needs throughout the process and handled our situation rationally, honestly, logically and professionally. We could not have had a better advisor or outcome. Thank you, Heather.

We were referred to Heather by a friend and feel so fortunate that she took our case. She has a deep knowledge of special ed law and is fearless when trying to get the best outcome for children. She thinks of the child and family first and remains focused throughout the process. Heather is organized, efficient and keeps the family on task while sensitive to expenses families incur. She is highly regarded in the legal and special ed community. Her expertise, intense compassion for children and honesty helped us through a lengthy process. Now with a successful outcome, we know she will always be there for us as a legal advisor and friend.

We wish we had found Heather earlier, but just so glad we did finally find her. With Heather, it’s all about preparedness and laying out a plan. As parents, she put us to work with various action items and deliverables as part of the overall plan, which not only laid out the history and painted a picture of our story, but also helped in keeping legal costs as low as possible. She was always steps ahead of us in terms of preparing for the multiple routes our case could possibly go, and was ready for each one of those paths. We’re not sure our case would have actually gone to hearing, but with Heather in our corner, we were certainly ready, and I believe, because she was in our corner, there was no way our district wanted any part of a hearing. Heather is passionate, to put it mildly, but is as invested herself, as we were as parents. If you’re willing to take an active role as parents, I would highly recommend Heather, as she will collaboratively work with you as a team in taking the best steps to achieve the best outcome.

We have worked with Heather for over 6 years as we've partnered with the school system to provide the best possible educational programming for our daughter. Heather provided us clear instructions and action items at every point along our journey. Heather has only one goal - to get us the best possible outcome for our child. She is also extremely efficient with our time (and, therefore, keeps the legal costs as low as possible) so that our conversations are focused and quickly actionable. In the end, we have our child in a program that we feel is the best for her and we could not have done it without Heather's guidance.

Hiring Heather was one of the best decisions we ever made. Time was of the essence in our case and she accommodated us very quickly, and entrenched herself in our son's issues and needs. I learned so much from her advice and will carry that knowledge through the years ahead. I would hire her again in a flash and highly recommend her.

When our world came to a confusing and frightening halt 13 years ago, when our son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, and our school district refused to provide him with what was recommended for therapies/teaching methods, a colleague referred us to Heather Gold. When we met with Heather, she thoroughly explained our new "world" to us and what our options were, she listened to our concerns, and she immediately got to work on our son's behalf. Because of Heather's invaluable legal expertise, dedication and determination, our son has had the opportunity to grow from a struggling preschool student with almost no verbal skills, to a confident and thriving High School Senior this coming year. We are incredibly proud of how well our son has done and how hard he works every single day but, if it weren't for Heather's help, none of it would have been within reach. Heather is also a wonderful person who dedicates her life to helping families of children with special needs receive the help they need and require in order to learn and grow to be high-functioning young adults. It takes a special person, like Heather Gold, to dedicate herself completely to all of our children and their families. We are incredibly fortunate that our child was one of the children whose life she has touched in countless ways. We unequivocally and enthusiastically recommend Heather Gold.

I've kept Heather Gold on retainer for over a decade so I could reach out to her whenever I needed an expert's advice, even though I'm a lawyer myself. She has such broad experience in Massachusetts special ed law that she knows what position is likely to be a winner at the BSEA and what will likely lose. I found it's better to keep my special ed lawyer behind the scenes so that I could maintain a cordial, lower-key relationship with my school district. I would provide Heather Gold with all of my son's IEP paperwork and get her advice about what I could ask for and how to ask for it. Then I would do the talking and negotiating with the school district myself to keep things from getting escalated unproductively. I got exactly what I wanted with her counsel. I'd highly recommend Heather Gold for both ongoing advice and representation in an appeal.

Heather is a phenomenal attorney. She is extremely thorough, always on top of every issue and is several steps ahead of opposing counsel. I have known Heather for several years and when I found myself dissatisfied with what the school insisted was "right" for my child, I reached out to Heather. Over the course of the year, she helped guide me through the legal quagmire of special needs law, explained the pros and cons of each situation and was always available not only to answer questions, but to help, guide and mentor me and ultimately to negotiate a fair placement with the school. My child now has the help he needs to learn what I have always known he could. In just 9 months at the right place, a child the school district deemed only capable of becoming a kitchen worker yesterday played an entire song on the piano in a general-ed music school's recital. For an autistic child, the right school does matter. And the right attorney can help make so. Hiring Heather was one of the best decision I have made for my child.