This article provides foundational information to stimulate and facilitate assessment of the distinctive role of law in this field. For example, has the balance of costs and benefits reached the point of over-legalization? Similarly, to what extent is legal literacy essential for special education teachers and related service personnel as compared to special education supervisors and administrators? For practitioners, professors, and policymakers to arrive at informed answers to such questions, this article successively provides (a) a description of the meaning of "law" in the context of special education in this country; (b) an overview of the level and sources of knowledge of special education law among school personnel, and (3) a sampling of lessons for special education stakeholders' careful consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]