Lisa Mehlbrech is the devoted founder and special education advocate at Kids 1st Advocacy, LLC, based in Colorado. Her critical work involves empowering parents to actively participate as valued members of their child’s educational team. She meets with and hears representation to help navigate her clients’ rights, develops quality plans specific to children’s needs, recommends effective goals and strategies, and assists in the preparation of carefully worded communications. Ms. Mehlbrech’s dedication to advocacy is rooted in her personal experiences, and her goal is to ensure that parents are well-equipped to assert their rights during meetings and guarantee that their concerns are accurately reflected in key documents like the Individualized Education Plan.
Prior to founding Kids 1st Advocacy, Ms. Mehlbrech was a trial paralegal at Yaeger & Jungbauer Barristers, PLC. She also contributed as a highly knowledgeable instructor at the Estrin Paralegal Knowledge Institute. Her legal career includes roles as a senior trial paralegal at DeWitt LLP Law Firm and at Bowman and Brooke. Further, she worked as an in-house paralegal at National Settlement Consultants and held paralegal positions at Davies, McFarland & Carroll, PC, and Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky.
Ms. Mehlbrech’s solid academic foundation includes a Master of Arts in communication management, marketing, and negotiation from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and speech communication from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Moreover, she completed coursework in legal research at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. Her education has been crucial in helping to shape her approach to advocacy and providing her with the skills necessary for effective communication and negotiation.
Ms. Mehlbrech, who is married, is a member of the Diversity Equality Inclusion and Belonging Committee and is a past vice president of communications and marketing for the Junior League of Minneapolis, alongside her busy career. Her commitment to community service has been demonstrated further in previous roles through the years as a board member for the Youth Performance Company, a Sugar Angel for Icing Smiles, Inc., and a co-leader and cookie manager for the Girl Scouts River Valleys. Ms. Mehlbrech also is a passionate public speaker, engaging with advocates such as the Denver Autism Parents Group through presentations and webinars. Her mission to support parents and communities has made her a sought-after expert by advocacy groups across multiple states. Additionally, she is deeply involved in legislative advocacy, having traveled to Washington, D.C., in June 2024 to collaborate with local legislators on changing laws related to the treatment of students in educational settings.
Throughout her career, Ms. Mehlbrech has been recognized for her dedication and impact on children’s rights and her legal writings. In this vein, she was awarded two scholarships for her psychology research experiment “Confidence Levels in Eyewitness Testimony” at a regional psychology conference. To underscore her perennial and ongoing commitment to advocating for the fair treatment of parents and students within educational systems, Ms. Mehlbrech is a member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.