Hank Bostwick

Hank has been advocating for kids and youth facing juvenile justice and education access issues since he started practicing law in 2003.  In 2008, after serving as a court-appointed juvenile defense attorney in Alabama, Hank joined the Virginia legal services community as an education law fellow at the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley, where he successfully litigated and secured private school reimbursement and other services in the matter of D.B. et al. v. Bedford County School Board, 708 F. Supp. 2d 564 (W.D. Va. 2010)—a leading special education case in the Commonwealth, which is routinely cited as enduring precedent.  In Texas, where he is also licensed, Hank was the education and special education law team manager for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.  Recently, federal litigation in the Western District of Texas Hank filed on behalf of several limited English proficient (LEP) mothers of students with disabilities in the case of Garcia v. Morath, 1:21-CV-01011-RP (W.D. Tex. Aug. 29, 2022), brought about much needed changes to the Texas Administrative Code, thereby increasing the access of non-native speakers to language assistance services in the special education context, like interpreters and translated documents.  Hank most recently served as a senior attorney for the Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society.  A former public school teacher, Hank brings almost two decades of experience to LAJC as a Senior Supervising Attorney for the Youth Justice Program, tackling barriers impacting local access to general and special education services and fostering state-wide advocacy to improve the quality of education for all Virginia’s K-12 students.