1. Keynote Speaker Justice Gail Bereola
Websites consulted:
http://www.onecalif.com/biojgbereola.aspx
http://www.peopleunited.org/pueblo/article.php?id=73
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=100704914&pri
vcapId=4171689&previousCapId=104451&previousTitle=Morrison
Photo:
Bio:
The Honorable Gail Brewster Bereola serves as a Judge of the Superior Court of California in the
County of Alameda. She formerly served as the Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court in San Leandro
and has since been part of the movement to institutionalize restorative justice in schools and the
justice system. She also served as a Municipal Court Judge for the Oakland-Piedmont-Emeryville
Judicial District until becoming a Superior Court Judge in 1998. Before being appointed to the
bench in 1992, she served as a Traffic and Small Claims Court Commissioner, practiced law for
eleven years in San Francisco and Oakland as a prosecutor with the San Francisco District
Attorney’s Office and then as a partner in the private law partnership of Hardy & Hardy, where she
concentrated on criminal defense.
In addition to holding several leadership positions with the Superior Court and Juvenile Court
Judges of California and actively involving herself in many civic organizations, Judge Bereola has
served as a faculty in judicial education programs on Access and Fairness in California courts.
Notably, Judge Bereola helped develop an education curriculum on the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) and Accommodating Persons with Disabilities in court. She has trained Superior Court
ADA Coordinators, judicial officers, and Judge Pro Tems on the ADA, and helped implement
California’s First Regional ADA Court Conference, held in Oakland in 2002. She further participated
as part of a planning committee for an annual ADA Coordinator’s Conference, sponsored by the
California Judicial Council since 2006. In 2005 and 2006, she served as a Seminar Group Leader for
the California Judicial College.
She serves as a Member of the Advisory Board of OneCalifornia Bank, FSB. Judge Bereola is a Life
Member of the National Bar Association, a member of the California Association of Black Lawyers
and the Charles Houston Bar Association. She served as the latter’s President in 1989 and Vice
President in 1988.
She received her Juris Doctorate in 1979 from the University of California Hastings College of the
Law in San Francisco and her Bachelors of Arts in Government in 1976 from the University of San
Francisco.
Panel 3: The ADA at 20: Where Lawyers with Disabilities are Now
1. Kathi Pugh, Morrison & Forrester
Sites Consulted:
http://www.mofo.com/Kathi-Pugh/
Photo:
Bio:
Kathi Pugh is Pro Bono Counsel for the firm Morrison & Foerster. In this role, she is responsible for
administering all aspects of the firm's extensive pro bono program. She started at Morrison and Forester
in 1990 as a labor associate in the Labor & Employment Department.
Ms. Pugh served on the Council of the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities (IRR) of the
American Bar Association from 1996-2009, elected to Council Leadership in 2001. In 1999, she was
appointed to the Editorial Committee of Human Rights, IRR’s quarterly magazine, where she served as
Chair of the Committee from 2002-2009. Kathi also served as an advisor for the founding of the National
Association of Law Students with Disabilities, which was conceived by IIR's Committee on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities.
Additionally, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF)
from 1992-1994 and as President of the San Francisco Barristers Club from 1995-1997. She also chaired
the Pro Bono Committee of the Barristers Club.
Kathi has been involved in many community organizations by serving on the Board of Directors of Equal
Rights Advocates, the ACLU of Northern California, the Berkeley Community Law Center, Legal Services
for the Elderly, the Center for Independent Living, and Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors, the Boalt
Hall Alumni Association, the East Bay Community Law Center and Access Northern California. In 1988,
along with several of her classmates, Ms. Pugh founded the East Bay Community Law Center, the largest
provider of legal services in Alameda County.
She currently serves as a judge for the Donald P. McCullum Youth Court which offers youthful offenders
in Oakland a second chance, thereby avoiding the criminal justice system.
Ms. Pugh received a joint degree from the University of California at Berkeley, a J.D. from Boalt Hall
School of Law and an M.B.A from Haas School of Business, in 1990.
She has received numerous awards including the Award of Merit from the BASF, the Young Alumnus
Award from the Boalt Hall Alumni Association, the Opening Doors to Justice Award from the Public
Interest Clearinghouse, and the Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service Awards from the Volunteer
Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She was also honored by the Bay Area
Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society for her extensive work in the community as well as
her continued work for disability rights.
2. Susan Mizner, SF Mayor's Office on Disability
Sites Consulted:
http://www.sfgov2.org/index.aspx?page=537
http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/06/11/assembly-passes-law-cracking-down-on-disability-parking-permitabuse/
Photo:
Bio:
Susan Mizner is the Director of the Mayor's Office on Disability (MOD ) since April of 2003. Prior to
becoming Director, she served three years as Deputy Director for Programmatic Access. She is a
graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law School, and has been a member of the disability
community since 1986. Ms. Mizner spends much of her professional life promoting equal access for
persons with disabilities, especially with regard to government services. Additionally, she is on the Board
of Directors of the American Civil Liberties of Northern California.
3. Stuart Pixley, Microsoft
Sites Consulted:
LinkedIn Profile
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=5595237&authType=name&authToken=8hoq&locale=en_US
&pvs=pp&pohelp=&trk=ppro_viewmore#>
http://new.abanet.org/disability/Lists/Lawyer%20Spotlights/DispFormNew.aspx?List=b61c4472695a-45e4-aa94-b10d19cf8bc6&ID=33
FB Profile
Photo:
Bio: Mr. Pixley is a Board Member at the Alliance of People with Disabilities and is a Senior Attorney
on the Antitrust Compliance Team at Microsoft. He has worked previously as Special Counsel at the
Heller Ehrman/ Venture Law Group, a Partner at Baker &McKenzie and an Associate at Brobeck,
Phleger & Harrison. Mr. Pixley received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley
School of Law in 1997 and his Bachelor's in Arts in Psychology from Pitzer College. He is now a
member of the Bar in California, New York and Washington State. After college, he worked as an
advocate for people with disabilities at Independent Living Centers, advocacy organizations, and
grassroots disability services, such as the Technology Access Center.
At Microsoft, Mr. Pixley specializes in technology and intellectual property transactions and
intellectual property counseling. He is also a member of the Cross-Disability Committee, a
company-wide employee resource group, and the Legal and Corporate Affairs Diversity Outreach
Committee. In the past year, Mr. Pixley has helped Microsoft with disability awareness projects as
well as disaster preparedness policy and training for employees with disabilities. Notably, he has
also helped the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities attain a donation from
Microsoft for its law student scholarship program.
Panel 4: Technology and Litigation: Two Paths to Increased Access
4. Larry Paradis, DRA
Sites Consulted:
http://www.dralegal.org/about/profiles/paradis.php
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec00/ada_7-26.html
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/2563.htm#LarryParadis
Photo:
Bio:
Larry Paradis is co-founder, Executive Director and Co-Director of Litigation for Disability Rights
Advocates (DRA). Earlier, he was an associate and then partner at the law firm of Miller, Starr and
Regalia where he focused on complex business litigation as well as pro bono civil rights work.
Mr. Paradis specializes in class action and other high-impact disability rights litigation. He has handled
many precedent-setting ADA cases in employment, housing, transportation, education, insurance, and
public accommodations. He has been greatly honored for his precedent-setting work; the California
Lawyer Magazine, named him one of California's Lawyers of the Year for his victories in civil rights cases
in 2003, and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association voted Mr. Paradis and co-counsel Trial Lawyer
of the Year in 2004.
Mr. Paradis is a past member of the President's Committee on the Employment of People with
Disabilities and has been on the Boards of many public interest organizations such as the Berkeley
Center for Independent Living, the National Council on Disability International Watch Committee,
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Berkeley Commission on Disability, Disability
Statistics Center at UCSF (Advisory Board), and the UCSF Center for Personal Assistance Services
Advisory Committee.
Mr. Paradis has also assisted the courts as a court-appointed mediator, as a Ninth Circuit Judicial Council
Lawyer Representative from the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California, and as a member
of a Magistrate Judge Selection Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Mr. Paradis graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.
- Ben Foss, Intel/DRA
Sites Consulted:
http://www.headstrongnation.org/about
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ben-foss/13/743/875
Photo:
Bio:
Ben Foss is the Director of Access Technology in the Digital Health Group at Intel Corporation. He
specializes in developing information technology systems to help people with disabilities gain
independence. For instance, he led the team which developed the Intel Reader, a hand-held device
that will take a photo of any text and read it aloud to users on the spot.
Mr. Foss is also the President of Headstrong Nation, which he founded in 2003. Headstrong Nation
is a non-profit organization focused on helping the adults with learning disabilities community by
providing information about dyslexia, self0advocacy and new technologies in new, alternate,
multimedia formats which lend themselves to easy access by people with dyslexia.
Ben holds a joint J.D./MBA from the Stanford University Law School and the Stanford University
Graduate School of Business. He completed his Masters degree in Philosophy at Edinburgh
University and his Bachelor’s degree in Social Studies at Wesleyan University. Before graduate
school, Ben worked for the White House National Economic Council and for the Children’s Defense
Fund in Washington, D.C.
- Scott LaBarre, LaBarre Law Offices
Sites Consulted:
http://www.labarrelaw.com/
http://new.abanet.org/disability/Lists/Lawyer%20Spotlights/DispFormNew.aspx?List=b61c4472695a-45e4-aa94-b10d19cf8bc6&ID=2
Photo:
Bio:
Scott LaBarre is the owner of LaBarre Law Offices, P.C. (LLO) in Denver, Colorado. His law practice
specializes in employment law, disability rights, Social Security appeals, estate planning, business law,
and Randolph-Sheppard Act cases. Mr. LaBarre is permanently admitted before the Supreme Court of
the United States, the United State Courts of Appeal for the Seventh and Tenth Circuits, the United
States District Court for the District of Colorado, and the Supreme Court of Colorado.
Prior to launching his own firm, Mr. LaBarre was general counsel for the National Federation of the Blind
(NFB) of Colorado, where he specialized in laws affecting the blind and disabled. Today, Mr. LaBarre
remains very active within the NFB. He was elected as President of the NFB of Colorado in October 2005,
and serves as Chairman of the fundraising PAC Committee. He is also the President of the National
Association of Blind Lawyers.
Mr. LaBarre served as Chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Mental and Physical
Disability Law and has served as a liaison for the General Practice, Solo, and Small Firm Division, having
served on its governing council and as Vice Director of the Division’s Internal Affairs Group. In the past,
Mr. LaBarre has also served as Director of the ABA’s Young Lawyers’ Division and Vice Chairman and
member of the ABA-YLD Bar Leadership Team, among other roles.
Mr. LaBarre received his J.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1993 and his Bachelor of Arts from St.
John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota in 1990.
- Cynthia Waddell, International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet, Web Accessability
Expert
Sites Consulted:
http://www.icdri.org/CynthiaW/cynthia_d.htm
http://g3ict.org/_expert_zones/cynthia_waddell_
http://isandtcolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/fall2003/speakers/waddell.html
Photo:
Bio:
Cynthia Waddell is Executive Director and Law, Policy and Technology Subject Matter Expert for the
International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI), an internationally recognized public
policy center based in the United States working for the equalization of opportunities for people with
disabilities. Ms Waddell provides consulting services to government, university and commercial clients
for compliance with disability rights laws.
She is a former Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance Officer for the City of San Jose, CA. She
is a member of the California Building Standards Access Code Committee, the California Area VII Board
for Developmental Disabilities, and the County of Santa Clara Advisory Commission for People with
Disabilities.
In 1995, she authored the first accessible web design standard in the United States that contributed to
the eventual passage of legislation for Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards,
also known as Section 508. The standard is only one of her many publications, which include “Major
Issues for Development and Implementation of Successful Policies and Strategies,” Accessibility
Guidelines for Multimedia Center, “The Growing Digital Divide in Access for People with Disabilities:
Overcoming Barriers to Participation,” and two books, Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory
Compliance and Constructing Accessible Web Site. These two books are best practices and technical
resources and include the first global surveys of law and policies in countries addressing accessible web
design.
Her efforts extend far beyond U.S. borders. She was the Accessibility Expert (Built Environment and
Accessible ICT) for the UN Ad Hoc Committee drafting the Convention on Rights of Persons with
Disabilities and as a technology expert for the Bush Administration 2003 US-UK seminar exchange on
increasing employment for people with disabilities. Recently she acted as Rapporteur for the Manila
Declaration on Accessible Information Communications Technology (ICT). She has spoken on the subject
of disability rights at many conferences and forums abroad, in places including the UN, the EU,
Argentina, Japan, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom
Ms. Waddell’s tireless devotion to improving equal access has led to numerous, well-deserved honors.
She was named to the “Top 25 women on the Web” by Webgirls International in 1998, and received the
first U.S. Government Technology Magazine award in 2003 for “Leadership in Accessibility Technology
and for Pioneering Advocacy and Education,” among many others. The CynthiaSays™ web accessibility
tool and portal, which provides accessible content for assistive technology, was named after Ms.
Waddell.
Ms. Waddell received her J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law where she is now a Lecturer in
Law. She received her B.A. cum laude, from the University of Southern California.