Law Office of Sidney Kraizman - Southfield, MI

I began practicing criminal law in the office of my father, Attorney Jack J. Kraizman, in 1970. In 1971, my daughter was born with a severe hearing impairment. In the early 1980s, I began representing deaf and hard of hearing clients in general civil and criminal matters. I then started representing disabled children and their parents at Individualized Educational Planning Team (IEPT) meetings and on complaints for due process hearings.

In 1987, as president of the Michigan Chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing ("Michigan A.G. Bell"), I created the A.G. Bell Summer Camp Program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. I have continued as the chair of the summer camp program for the past 21 years.

In Michigan, I have been a leader in our state's achievement of universal hearing screening of all newborns. I received the award of the national Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (A.G. Bell) for instituting the A.G. Bell recognition program honoring those pioneering hospitals that began universal newborn hearing screening program.

I served as a Special Education Hearing Officer and as a State Review Officer in special education cases for over 10 years until October 2006. As a State Review officer for the Michigan Department of Education, I issued an important decision that a child with Downs Syndrome and cognitive impairment was entitled to be mainstreamed full time into a regular education kindergarten class with appropriate support. That was a landmark inclusion case in Michigan.

I am now representing children with disabilities and their parents in special education matters.

COURT EXPERIENCE

• Trial experience in dozens of civil and criminal cases in the United States District Court and in the circuit courts in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties and at administrative hearings.
• Experience in taking appeals to the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati Ohio.
• Serving as a hearing officer for Michigan Rehabilitation Services of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.