Two longtime DeafAttorneys.com members, Josh Mendelsohn and Michael Schwartz, have been featured as part of the ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law’s “Lawyer Spotlight” series.
To read about Josh, click here.
To read about Michael, click here.
To nominate another deaf or hard of hearing attorney for the Spotlight, click here.
Congratulations to both Josh and Michael!
June 4th, 2008
MANAGING ATTORNEY
COMMUNITY INTEGRATION/DISABILITY RIGHTS
Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, a nationally recognized advocacy organization for persons with disabilities, is searching for a Managing Attorney to oversee the development, implementation, and growth of Access Living’s legal strategy in the area of community integration/disability rights. In addition to supervising legal staff working in this division, the Managing Attorney will litigate systemic disability rights cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and related laws to ensure persons with disabilities have the right to live, learn, and work in communities of their choosing. Access Living’s current docket includes several community integration (“Olmstead”) cases filed in federal court, three of which have been certified as class actions. Access Living’s lawyers appear before federal courts, including the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, state courts and various administrative agencies.
The Managing Attorney will serve as lead counsel for Access Living on its Olmstead cases and advise senior management on community integration initiatives. To this end, he/she will: coalesce with other counsel; draft pleadings and briefs; conduct discovery; counsel clients; work with experts; investigate, prepare and try cases; supervise other attorney(s) as well as legal assistants; and perform related legal work.
Qualifications: substantial complex litigation experience with an emphasis on Olmstead cases; stellar research and writing skills; ability to work with co-counsel; expertise on Medicaid and disability services; supervisory experience; and a commitment to disability rights.
People with disabilities, minorities, and those with personal experience with disability are encouraged to apply.
Send cover letter and resume by mail, fax or e-mail to:
Neil Anderson, Manger of Administration
115 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60610
fax: (312) 787.3866
nanderson@accessliving.org
April 16th, 2008
Save the date!
NALSWD announces its 2nd annual conference in conjunction with the IMPACT Career Fair for Law Students and Lawyers with Disabilities.
When: Friday, August 15 - Sunday, August 17, 2008.
Where: Crystal City, Virginia, just outside Washington D.C.
What: While 2L and 3L students and lawyers with disabilities interview with employers at IMPACT on Friday, August 15, NALSWD will hold a day-long seminar to assist and prepare first year law students for 1L year. The NALSWD conference that will follow IMPACT on Saturday and Sunday will include:
- Panel discussions with lawyers with disabilities
- Panels about issues unique to our education and career development
- Elections for our executive board
- A session about our Constitution
- Selection of annual advocacy campaign topics
- Important information on mentorship and resources
Many more details including registration information will be coming in future newsletters and on the NALSWD website: www.nalswd.org
April 14th, 2008
Tonight five members of DeafAttorneys.com had an impromptu gathering at a Washington, DC restaurant; they were kind enough to have a picture taken and forward it to us for posting.
From left to right: Earnest Williams, Melissa Felder, John Stanton, Rash Tadvalkar, and Michael Stein.
Earnest, a 2L at Tulane Law, was in DC for a conference. John, Melissa and Michael are all attorneys in DC, and Rash is a 3L at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law. Thanks to John and Michael for organizing his welcoming committee!
April 11th, 2008
Lawyers USA Online today published an article featuring five DeafAttorneys.com members — Scott Harrison, Albert Lin, Spencer Phillips, Brian Sheridan and Scott Simser. Some excerpts:
Brian D. Sheridan, a 58-year-old trial lawyer in Ishpeming, Mich., is stone cold deaf.
But that doesn’t stop him from going to court.
In fact, he does so with great frequency as a partner in a small Upper Peninsula law firm, and recently argued a case before the 6th Circuit.
“I do think that attorneys with my disability have to work a lot harder to make up for it,” said Albert Y. Lin, a partner at Brown McCarroll in Austin, Texas.
Within the firm, Lin has needed no special accommodations to communicate with his colleagues.
“I really try to downplay it,” he said. “I’ve convinced myself it’s not a problem, and I don’t think anyone else here thinks it is. At least if they do, they haven’t said so to my face.”
In Florida, Scott Harrison of Winter Park recently reached a settlement with the state in a suit he filed because he was denied real-time court-reporting services in criminal trials. Harrison, a solo practitioner, argued that he couldn’t afford to pay for the service. Following the settlement, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Lewis spelled out new guidelines providing court-reporting services for lawyers who are deaf or hearing-impaired.
In Canada, attorney Scott Simser has been a zealous proponent of making courts more accessible for deaf and hearing-impaired lawyers. He filed a human rights complaint against the Tax Court of Canada for not providing him a real-time reporter and settled the case just before it went to a human rights tribunal.
“Ever since then, no court has turned down a request by me, as lawyer, for a real-time captionist or sign language interpreter,” he told Lawyers USA.
Employment lawyer Spencer D. Phillips, a second-year associate with Nixon Peabody in Rochester, N.Y., has also found it easy to adapt to office life, in spite of his impairment. He is completely deaf in one ear and wears a hearing aid in the other, which functions at about 20 percent of normal hearing. He is also fluent in American Sign Language, but rarely uses it inside the firm.
As a member of a national group called Deaf Attorneys (www.deafattorneys.com), he frequently shares tips with law students and others about how to launch a legal career.
Again, the full article is here; it and many more articles about deaf and hard of hearing attorneys and law students also can be found in our Press Room.
April 8th, 2008
The California Center for Law and the Deaf in San Leandro, which counts several DeafAttorneys.com members among its alumni, will provide a fellowship to a current law student this summer.
The announcement can be accessed here [Word doc].
According to the announcement, the “[s]uccessful candidate must be a law student who has an interest or prior experience in public interest law. Proficiency in use of word processing and data base programs (Abacus Law), as well as excellent research and writing skills are highly desired. Candidates must be exemplary communicators, demonstrating interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills. Prior experience with or knowledge of the Deaf Community preferred. Candidates with ASL proficiency will be given first priority.”
Application deadline is April 1, 2008. We especially encourage all interested deaf and hard of hearing law students to apply!
March 15th, 2008
DeafAttorneys.com member Scott Van Nice last week won the award for outstanding oral advocacy at New York Law School’s 32nd annual Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Moot Court Competition.
Scott’s team from Northern Kentucky University Law School won the competition.
Congratulations, Scott!
March 14th, 2008
A DeafAttorneys.com member recently unveiled an excellent new blog, entitled “Anonymous Deaf Law Student.” You can read the blog here.
If you’re deaf or hard of hearing and interested in attending law school, this blog is for you!
Visit other DeafAttorneys.com member blogs, read their professional profiles, find news about them and read their scholarly writings right here at the DeafAttorneys.com Press Room.
February 21st, 2008
Belated congratulations to Elizabeth Gastelum, a 3L at Southern Illinois, on winning her state’s prestigious Women’s Bar Foundation Scholarship!
You can read the article here.
December 28th, 2007
Congratulations to DeafAttorneys member Scott Harrison, who recently settled a disability access lawsuit with the State of Florida that will provide him and other attorneys who are deaf or hard of hearing with real-time court reporting services [CART] at court expense in Florida county and circuit court criminal trials!
Seems like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? After all, Title II of the ADA specifically mandates state and local governments to provide such accommodations when necessary. But sometimes it takes a fighter like Scott to make people accept the obvious.
Way to go, Scott!
November 14th, 2007
