Megan Berger

Megan Berger

Disability Rights Maryland

Moderator, The State of the School to Prison Pipeline in Maryland

Megan Berger is the Legal Director and former Assistant Managing Attorney of the Education and Children’s Mental Health team at Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), the state’s protection and advocacy agency.  She works on special education, school discipline, school-to-prison pipeline, and children’s mental health issues, with a focus on providing legal representation to youth with disabilities who are involved with multiple state agencies.  Megan represents students with disabilities and their families in cases and appeals under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, investigates rights violations and reports of abuse and neglect, and engages in systemic advocacy at the local and state level.  She previously worked in the Child Advocacy Unit at the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau where she represented youth in the foster care system in court and in special education and school discipline matters.  She is a former AmeriCorps volunteer who worked as a youth advocate in a therapeutic residential program serving at-risk youth.  Megan graduated from the University of Notre Dame summa cum laude.  She graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law magna cum laude where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif, was a member of the Maryland Law Review, and was the recipient of the Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Public Interest Scholarship, the Anne Barlow Gallagher Prize for Service to Children and Youth, and the Public Service Award.