Dee Anna Hassanpour

Bringing passion and a multifaceted knowledge base to her practice, Dee Anna Hassanpour represents clients throughout California in all aspects of special education law. She guides school districts in litigation and due process hearings, pleadings, mediations and settlements before the Office of Administrative Hearings. She also reviews and responds to complaints before the California Department of Education. Dee Anna’s in-depth familiarity with SELPAs—special education plan local areas—makes her a valuable advisor for these unique organizations. Additionally, she helps school boards and other educational entities with governance and leadership issues.

Dee Anna firmly believes solutions exist for all problems. A natural collaborator, she relishes the opportunity to strategize with clients to best address their issues and reap optimal outcomes. Dee Anna also works in tandem with her clients to provide staff training, create or review policy and procedure manuals, and update school board policies relevant to student matters and special education. Clients appreciate her wide angle-lens perspective and ability to forecast and skillfully advise them on changes appearing on the horizon.

With extensive experience in administrative law in the areas of special education and state government regulatory matters, Dee Anna applies her valuable insight into the way public agencies operate to her clients’ advantage. She served as an assistant division director for the State of Oregon’s Unemployment Insurance Program, where she developed and proposed legislative policy, presented at national conferences, and testified before the Oregon Legislature on workforce unemployment issues.

Previously, Dee Anna was an administrative law judge with Oregon’s Office of Administrative Hearings, where she presided as its deputy chief judge for eight years. During her tenure at the OAH, she also sat on Oregon’s Department of Education’s Dispute Resolution Committee. She currently co-chairs F3’s Student Services & Special Education practice group and presents frequently at state and national conferences on topics such as administrative hearings and unemployment insurance programs.

In addition to enthusiasm for special education law and dedication to her clients, Dee Anna brings a steady and unflappable presence to her practice. She prepares witnesses for hearings by providing not only information and instruction, but also emotional and psychological support. When emotions run high in meetings involving school board administrators and parents of special ed children, Dee Anna helps defuse anger and tension by connecting with the parents on a human level and re-focusing everyone’s attention back upon the students’ best interests. Raised in a family of educators who highly valued the public school system, Dee Anna is honored and grateful for the opportunity to support clients in educating students with exceptional needs.