Meet Our Team

Ms. Kaufman is a Partner in the Los Angeles office of Adams Silva & McNally LLP. Ms. Kaufman’s legal career has been dedicated to education law and provides her with diverse legal expertise, including representation of school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools in special education, student discipline, charter school compliance, and general education law. She has appeared on behalf of clients before the U.S. District Court, the California Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, and the Office of Administrative Hearings.

Ms. Kaufman’s passion for education originated through her mother, a lifelong educator with more than 50 years of public education service and former Superintendent. That early connection to public education inspired Ms. Kaufman to earn a California multiple-subject teaching credential alongside her legal studies. She earned her Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School, where she served as Executive Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review. The perspective she gained through both her teaching background and her deep roots in education gives Ms. Kaufman valuable insight into the representation of her school district clients.

Through more than 25 years of practice, Ms. Kaufman has built a reputation as a skilled advocate in complex special education proceedings in California. She regularly represents clients before the Office of Administrative Hearings in due process hearings and has secured significant victories for her school district clients across a range of IDEA issues, including FAPE, assessments, eligibility, placement, behavioral intervention, and manifestation determination. Most recently, Ms. Kaufman successfully represented Glendale Unified School District in OAH Case No. 2025120710 (February 2026), in which the administrative law judge ruled in the District’s favor on an expedited due process hearing, finding that the District had no obligation to conduct a manifestation determination review for the disciplinary removals at issue. Her victories also extend to the federal court. In G.G. v. Conejo Valley Unified School District, the U.S. District Court affirmed her prior OAH decision in the District’s favor, holding that the District offered the student an appropriate program, that a lack of parent cooperation does not constitute a denial of meaningful IEP participation, and that recreational therapy is a therapy, not a disability, for purposes of the assessment.

Ms. Kaufman is a prolific speaker and skilled trainer. She conducts workshops and training sessions for administrators and education decision-makers for school district clients throughout Southern California. Topics have included legally defensible assessments, compliant IEPs, Section 504 Plans, student discipline, and the latest developments in special education law.