“Hello Chris,

We want to thank you again for assisting us with Melanie’s CIF appeal process. It was quite shocking to learn back in October that our daughter had been blocked by CIF due to “athletic motivation” when we transferred her to her new school after her freshman year. We had followed all of CIF’s guidelines and rules, and even a so-called “informal meeting” with the two representatives that originally denied her, made absolutely no difference.

A very frustrating situation to deal with, when you just know you did nothing wrong, and a young person is suffering because of a very vaguely described clause in a 400 page rule book.

We searched the internet and found you and your law firm, willing to represent our case in our official appeal.

With your help and guidance, and most of all your experience, the original decision was overruled. Although CIF had up to 15 working days to rule on our appeal, it only took 2 days to clear her for basketball. We are very excited and grateful that at the end, justice did prevail.

It has been a long and difficult two months since we first learned of this injustice towards our daughter. It has changed her as a person, it has changed our family forever. There were times when I was ready to go wring some necks myself. But you, Chris, kept your cool for us, and at the end, all the “mandatory” patience did pay off, as hard as it was.

Our advice to other parents going trough difficult times like this, is to trust you and your experience. Keep supporting your kid and most of all, don’t give up!

This “athletic motivation” rule, at times, appears to be used as a vicious tool towards athletes who just want to do what they love most!

Sincerely,

The Henderson Family”