Money. I promised to return to this. I am very familiar with the leading advocates and parent-side special education lawyers in Northern New Jersey. Based on that knowledge, I can tell you that the average non-attorney parent advocate charges about half the hourly rate of the average parent-side education attorney. Assuming that you have all the money in the world (and you don’t, or you’d just pay for your child’s education needs and forget about it), you should still pick the right professional for the job based on the factors discussed above. But if, like most people, you often have to make choices to fit your budget, you should co…