Professional Profile — Samara Klein

Samara Klein has more than twenty years of experience as an attorney, nonprofit executive, and advocate for children and adults with special needs as well as other vulnerable individuals. She has been a vigorous advocate for special education, healthcare access, and other rights and services for both adults and children.

Ms. Klein got her B.A. with honors from the University of Kansas. She attended Washington University Law where she received several academic scholarships and transferred to the University of Kansas Law School where she graduated in 1989. She has been a member of the Missouri Bar since 1989 and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri as well as Kansas. She is a member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) and the Kansas City Missouri Bar Association(KCMBA). She has provided training on special education and on issues involving other rights and policy issues as an invited speaker at seminars and conference throughout the region.
 
Ms. Klein has advocated for individuals with disabilities throughout Missouri, in the metro Kansas City area, and in the United States. She has fought for and secured services for children in special education cases under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act and served as an administrative hearing officer for four years for the State of Missouri in special education cases.

She has also successfully helped clients under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Mental Health Parity Laws, and the Fair Housing Act. Ms. Klein has also has helped clients secure relief  when they have been discriminated against based on classifications such as sex and race, and on issues in which children have been abused and bullied.
 
As the executive director and co-founder of a nonprofit organization advocating for health care benefits for children with special needs, she has acquired extensive knowledge of the healthcare system. Ms. Klein served for 11 years as the co-founder and executive director of Reach for Kids, also known as Children's Benefits Services for Families. Under her direction, this organization achieved more than a 90 percent success rate overturning cases in which individuals had previously been denied health coverage.
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