Lehigh University's College of Education

Spring/Summer 2008

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DENNIS C. MCANDREWS, ESQ. has worked for over twenty-five (25) years in the public and private sectors in several roles in the field of disability law. He is the founder of McAndrews Law Offices, an eight-attorney law firm in Berwyn, which regularly represents individuals with disabilities and their families in a variety of areas, including special education matters, special needs trusts, guardianships, estate planning, right-to-treatment cases, and injury cases. He frequently acts as a consultant to other public and private attorneys with regard to disability and special education issues.

Mr. McAndrews has served as Executive Director and Staff Counsel to two select committees of the Pennsylvania State Senate which evaluated Pennsylvania's system of care for the mentally retarded and drafted proposed legislation designed to modernize Pennsylvania's legal basis for the provision of care to the mentally retarded. He served for fifteen (15) years as a Special Education Hearing Officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and was assigned to determine the appropriate educational classification, program, and placement of school-age children with disabilities. In 1990, Mr. McAndrews was selected to serve as one of the first appellate hearing officers in Pennsylvania under new Department of Education regulations.

During his sixteen (16) years as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia area, and thereafter in criminal defense matters, he handled many cases involving defenses of mental disability.  He was a special prosecutor in the murder trial of Commonwealth vs. John E. duPont.

Mr. McAndrews is an instructor of Civil Rights, Constitutional Law and Criminal Justice at Villanova University.  He is a frequent lecturer to national conferences, Bar Association Committees and advocacy groups concerning the rights of the disabled, and has authored numerous articles regarding the rights of disabled individuals.  He served for a decade as Chairman of The Disability Law Committee of the Delaware County Bar Association.  Mr. McAndrews obtained his law degree from the Villanova School of Law in 1978 and was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education together with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Villanova University in 1975.