Mark Woodsmall is the founder of Woodsmall Law Group, PC a law firm based in the San Gabriel Valley area. The firm practices exclusively in the areas of Special Education, Regional Center Matters, Special Needs Trust Planning and Conservatorship.
In 2006 Mr. Woodsmall joined the faculty of the USC Gould School of Law as a Professor Adjunct, teaching in the area of special education law. He also serves as the teaching attorney in Special Education Advocacy Training Project - Los Angeles. The SEAT Project, an innovative nationwide advocacy training project, is
funded under grant from the US Department of Education and administered
through COPAA, The Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates and the USC
Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (Children's Hospital Los
Angeles).
Mr. Woodsmall sits on the UCLA Center for Autism Research & Treatment
(CART) Community Advisory Committee. He has been an active volunteer
with Cure Autism Now/Autism Speaks, serving on the National and Los Angeles
Walk Planning Committees and Government Relations Committee. In 2008
he was named to the Board of Autism Speaks - Los Angeles. He currently
serves as its Chair. Mr. Woodsmall has been invited to present at the 2012 COPAA Conference (national conference of parent attorneys) in Miami, Florida.
During his free time, Mr. Woodsmall enjoys time with family, travel, surfing, scuba diving, viticulature and camping.
Pablo R. Escobar joined Woodsmall Law Group, P.C. in August 2009. Mr. Escobar graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2003 with a concentration in Critical Race Studies. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 2004 and has practiced in the areas of Disability and Family Law. Mr. Escobar began his legal career at the Learning Rights Project of the Western Law Center for Disability Rights (now
the Disability Rights Law Center) in 2002, first as an intern throughout his third year of law school, and later as a full-time Advocate/Attorney through a prestigious Equal Justice Works Law Fellowship in 2003. While at the Disability Rights Law Center, Mr. Escobar represented low-income families of children with disabilities in special education matters. In 2006, Mr. Escobar was hired by Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) of Los Angeles County as a Family Law Attorney. During his time at NLS, Mr. Escobar represented victims of domestic violence in all family law matters, including divorce, custody and restraining orders. In 2007, Mr. Escobar became an Associate Attorney at the Law Offices of Bonnie Z. Yates, Inc. where he focused his efforts on providing legal representation to children with disabilities in school district and regional center matters. As the Senior Associate Attorney at Woodsmall Law Group, Mr. Escobar brings his extensive knowledge and experience of the laws and procedures which guide the process of securing necessary services for special needs children from school districts and regional centers.
Mr. Escobar is currently a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and is also serving on the Disability Rights Legal Center’s Young Professionals Board. He has been a scholar of the California State Bar Association’s Access and Fairness Leadership Academy, and also sat on the Board of Governors for District 7 of the State Bar’s California Young Lawyer’s Association. While in law school, Mr. Escobar was a founding member of the National Latina/o Law Student Association as well as a Co-Chairperson of the UCLA School of Law’s La Raza Law Student Association.
During his free time, Mr. Escobar enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with his wife, Alejandra, and his young son, Pablo.
Shima Kalaei joined Woodsmall Law Group as an associate attorney in August 2010. Ms. Kalaei earned her Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005 and her Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2009.
Ms. Kalaei’s passion in serving children with disabilities is driven by her experiences growing up with her younger brother, who has autism. Throughout law school, Ms. Kalaei pursued opportunities to assist children with special needs. In particular, she interned for the Special Education Project at The Alliance for Children’s Rights, where she advocated for foster children in obtaining special education services. Ms. Kalaei also served as a Notes Editor for the Thomas Jefferson Law Review, guiding students with legal writing and reviewing notes selected for publication. Ms. Kalaei’s own publication proposes new legislation to overcome inadequacies in the education of students with autism by better coordinating the No Child Left Behind Act with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Ms. Kalaei’s legal background is further diversified by her experiences as a teaching assistant for legal writing courses and as a research assistant for law school faculty scholarship. Ms. Kalaei also interned for The Law Office of Kane Handel, where she drafted settlement demands and participated in trial preparation for personal injury lawsuits. Additionally, while at Casa Cornelia Law Center, she successfully helped a number refugees and domestic violence clients gain asylum. Ms. Kalaei has received several distinguished honors, including the Witkin and Cali Awards in Legal Writing and Civil Procedure, the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services, and was selected for the 2009 Who’s Who Among Students in American University and Colleges Award.
Ms. Kalaei enjoys cooking and creating new recipes, redecorating and interior design, yoga, hiking, boxing, and traveling.
Michelle Lee joined Woodsmall Law Group, P.C. as an associate attorney in August 2010. She has lived a mostly bi-coastal life, and has spent time in and around Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco/Bay Area. Ms. Lee graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology in 2002, and received her Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2008.
Throughout her legal career, Ms. Lee has demonstrated a commitment to public interest law. She worked as a paralegal at a plaintiff-side employment law and civil rights firm in New York before law school, and completed clerkships during law school with various non-profit organizations that represented migrant workers, human trafficking survivors and domestic violence victims. Also during law school, she was co-chair of the Labor and Employment Law Student Association and a staff articles editor for the Journal of Law and Social Challenges. In Spring 2010, she discovered her passion for advocating on behalf of children with special needs while volunteering as an attorney at Public Counsel Law Center’s Children’s Rights Project. At Public Counsel, Ms. Lee performed intake for the education law clinic and assisted foster children clients with educational issues. At Woodsmall Law Group, she is thrilled to continue assisting children with special needs and their families with asserting and preserving their education and community access rights.
During her free time, Ms. Lee enjoys traveling to new places both near and far, learning about different cultures, frequenting live music performances, watching movies, hiking in the wilderness, yoga, reading, and sharing heartwarming meals with her husband, Scott.
Attorneys & Advocates
Exceptional Lawyers for Exceptional Children
