Deborah G. Stevenson

     Attorney Stevenson is a graduate of Quinnipiac University School of Law, where she attended at night, after chauffeuring her daughters to college during the day. While attending Quinnipiac, Attorney Stevenson received the Excellence in Clinical Work Award for her work in the Appellate Clinic at the University, and she also received the Garrett McGarrity Farrell Scholarship Award given for work performed in conjunction with the state legislature to support parental rights. She also was a competitor for the Quinnipiac Law Review and the National Probate Journal, was a Moot Court invitee, and appeared in the journal, Who’s Who of American Law Students.

     After graduating law school, Attorney Stevenson opened her private practice in 1999, practicing both civil and criminal litigation, focusing on Constitutional Law, Appellate Law, Education Law, and individual civil rights, resolving all manner of disputes for clients through mediation and litigation before local, state, and federal agencies and courts. Much of her practice also focuses on Appellate law, where she frequently debates issues of importance before the Connecticut Appellate and Supreme Courts.

     Attorney Stevenson was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1999, and to the federal bar in 2002.  She is a member of the Connecticut Bar Association and the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.  She also acts as Assigned Counsel for the appellate Legal Services Unit of the Connecticut Office of Chief Public Defender.

     Before attending law school, Attorney Stevenson fought for individual rights as a citizen and proud mother of two daughters, whom she homeschooled until they entered college, at the very young ages of ten and eleven. The first daughter received her Bachelor’s Degree at the age of 16, her Master’s Degree at the age of 19, followed by her PhD Degree.  She is a National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and she also is a Project Scientist and Paleoclimatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. The other daughter received her first Bachelor’s Degree at the age of 15, her second Bachelor’s Degree at the age of 19, followed by a Master’s Degree.  She is employed as a Recreational Therapist and researcher at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Administration finding new ways to assist wounded veterans overcome their physical and traumatic stress related disabilities. In order to protect the rights of her daughters to receive such an individualized education, Attorney Stevenson became actively involved in researching and advocating for the preservation of individual and parental rights, even before attending law school.

     As a result, Attorney Stevenson founded, and continues to operate, National Home Education Legal Defense, LLC, and also acts as legal advisor to a number of community organizations, including the Connecticut Parental Rights Coalition, Connecticut Against Common Core, and Connecticut Homeschool Network.

     Attorney Stevenson also has been an invited keynote speaker at various events in Connecticut, and in other States, including before the Connecticut Legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus on the issue of compensation for wrongful incarceration; Western Connecticut State University’s School-Based Mental Health Conference; Quinnipiac University School of Education Town Hall Meeting on Public Education Perspectives; We the People of Maine’s Conference at the State Capitol on the Article V Convention of the States; the Maine Committee on State and Local Government on several Resolutions regarding an Article V Convention of the States; the Caucus of the North Carolina House of Representatives on the Article V Convention of the States; a symposium of the New England Association of College Admissions Directors; and at various other events in Connecticut and across the country.  

     Attorney Stevenson also assisted in obtaining several changes to Connecticut laws designed to protect the rights of parents, in addition to assisting in obtaining changes to the Department of Children and Families policy manual, and to a statute allowing paraprofessionals to administer epi-pens to children with life threatening allergies.

     Whatever the issue that arises, Attorney Stevenson works tirelessly to protect the rights of all individuals, and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and the rule of law whenever possible.