The National Association of Law Students with Disabilities
2012 Conference
March 9-11, 2012
George Washington University Law School
Washington, D.C.
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All of us at NALSWD extend our warmest thanks to the organizations that
so generously donated to make this conference possible!
List of Conference Donors: George Washington University Law School, Stanford Association of Law
Students for Disability Rights, Alston + Bird, Microsoft, ABA Commission on Disability Rights, Sidley
Austin, Morrison and Foerster, Brown, Goldstein, & Levy, Jackson Walker, Barnes & Thornburg, Vinson
& Elkins, and Milan Chatterjee.
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Agenda for the 5th Annual NALSWD Conference
Unless noted, all events will be held at the Student Conference Center of George Washington University Law School.
FRIDAY MARCH 9
5:00 – 7:00
NALSWD Happy Hour to kick-off the conference!
BlackFinn Restaurant, 1620 I Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20006
SATURDAY MARCH 10
8:15 – 9:00
Breakfast and Registration
9:00 – 9:30
Welcome Speech
John Whealan, Dean of the Intellectual Property Studies Program at
George Washington University Law School
9:30 – 10:30
Panel 1: Entrance to the Profession
Local litigators will discuss their role in lawsuits against the ABA
and LSAC on behalf of law students with disabilities.
Dan Goldstein, Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP
Karla Gilbride, Mehri & Skalet, PLLC
Paula Pearlman, Disability Rights Legal Center
Moderator: Jason Turkish, Northwestern Law School
10:30 – 10:45
Break
10:45 – 11:45
Panel 2: Career Paths in the Private and Non-Profit Sectors
Hear from lawyers with disabilities with varied career paths in the
private and non-profit worlds. Find out when, how, and why to
disclose your disability in the context of employment, as well as
tips for successful self-advocacy for job accommodations.
Stephanie Ortoleva, BlueLaw International LLP
Brette Steele, formerly Mayer Brown LLP
Peter Thomas, Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville PC
Moderator: Rebecca Williford, Disability Rights Advocates
11:45 – 1:45
Lunch
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1:45 – 2:45
Panel 3: Current Issues in Disability Law and Policy
Our panelists are successful lawyers with disabilities who work in
the policy field in Washington, D.C. They will discuss the current
law and policy issues in the disability context.
Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy
Andy Imparato, Senior Counsel and Disability Policy Director for
the Senate HELP Committee
Ronza Othman, Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist at CMS
Moderator: Anna Scholin, Law Clerk at the Department of Labor
2:45 – 3:00
Break
3:00 – 4:00
Panel 4: Government Jobs and Hiring
Government employees with disabilities will discuss career
opportunities in the government from clerking to working in
administrative agencies. Panelists will provide tips for being hired
and for being a successful government lawyer.
Day Al-Mohamed, Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Labor
Rebecca Cokley, Director of Priority Placement for Public
Engagement at the White House Presidential Personnel Office
Allison Nichol, Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil
Rights Division
Moderator: Janice Ta, former law clerk for the Honorable Timothy
B. Dyk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
4:00 – 5:00
Wine and Cheese Reception with Local Lawyers with Disabilities
5:00 – 5:45
Keynote Speech
Eve Hill, Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice
Introduction by Deepa Goraya, Michigan Law School
6:00 – 8:00
Small Group Dinners Out in the City
SUNDAY MARCH 11
8:30 – 9:00
Breakfast
9:00 – 9:45
Crash Course on Disability Law
Carrie Griffin Basas, Post-Graduate Research Fellow at Harvard Law
School and Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Case Western
Reserve University
9:45 – 10:00
Break
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10:00 – 10:45
Closing Speech
Chai Feldblum, Commissioner of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Introduction by Kevin Fritz, Washington University School of Law
10:45 – 11:00
Break
11:00 – 11:15
Remarks from NALSWD Executive Board
11:15 – 12:00
Group Student Discussion about Non-Profit Incorporation and
NALSWD Accomplishments and Priorities for 2012-2013
Non-Profit Discussion led by Rebecca Williford
12:00 – 12:30
Discussion about NALSWD Elections and Potential Candidates
12:30 – 1:30
Lunch
1:30 – 2:30
Dialogue on the Barriers to the Legal Profession with the
American Association of People with Disabilities
Dana Fink, American Association of People with Disabilities
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Speaker Biographies
9:00 – 9:30 Welcome Speech
Photo of John Whealan
John Whealan is the Dean of George Washington Law's Intellectual
Property Studies Program. Before joining GW Law School in 2008, Dean
Whealan worked at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
where he served as deputy general counsel for intellectual property law
and solicitor since 2001. Dean Whealan represented the USPTO in all
intellectual property litigation in federal court and advised the agency
on a variety of policy issues. Dean Whealan also assisted the U.S.
Solicitor General on virtually every intellectual property case that has
been heard by the Supreme Court since 2001. He also served as counsel
to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary for the last year. Prior to
2001, Dean Whealan was a staff attorney for the U.S. International Trade
Commission where he litigated several investigations involving
intellectual property matters. He has clerked at both the appellate and
trial court levels, serving as law clerk to Judge Randall R. Rader, J.D. '78,
of the Federal Circuit and Judge James T. Turner of the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims. Dean Whealan graduated from Villanova University, has
a masters degree from Drexel University, and a J.D. from Harvard
University.
9:30 – 10:30 Panel 1: Entrance to the Profession
Photo of Karla Gilbride
Karla Gilbride joined Mehri & Skalet in July 2011. Her work focuses on
the civil rights, wage and hour, and consumer protection aspects of the
firm’s practice. Before coming to Mehri & Skalet, Ms. Gilbride served as
a law clerk to Judge Ronald Gould on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Ninth Circuit in Seattle. She then worked for three years at Disability
Rights Advocates in Berkeley, California, where she brought class
actions and other high-impact cases on behalf of people with disabilities
on such issues as access to technology, emergency preparedness and
accommodations on professional licensing exams. Ms. Gilbride
graduated with honors from Georgetown Law School in 2007. While at
Georgetown she served on the Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law and
Policy, participated in the Federal Legislation Clinic, and won regional
and national victories in the Frederick Douglass Moot Court
Competition.
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Photo of Dan Goldstein
Dan Goldstein is an attorney at Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP. His love of
trial work has led to a wide-ranging practice that includes complex
commercial matters, high-impact public interest litigation, personal
injury, white collar criminal defense, and court appointments to
represent defendants charged federally with death-eligible offenses. As
counsel for the National Federation of the Blind, Mr. Goldstein has
initiated a national legal campaign to ensure access to technology. His
settlement of a class action against Cardtronics, which provides for tens
of thousands of voice-guided ATMs, constituted a major step toward
making this ubiquitous convenience accessible to the blind. His suit
against Target.com set precedent regarding the application of access
laws to websites, and his suit against America Online has made AOL
accessible to the blind. In litigation from Maryland to Florida, he has
helped ensure the right of the blind to vote independently and in secret.
A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Goldstein also has a diverse criminal
practice.
Dan is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, has been listed
among Maryland's Top 50 Super Lawyers, and is a 2010 winner of The
Daily Record's Leadership in Law Award. In 2011, Dan received the
American Bar Association's Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights.
Also, he has been selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in
America Civil Rights Law, Commercial Litigation, and White-Collar
Criminal Defense categories.
Paula Pearlman is the Executive Director of the Disability Rights Legal
Center, a cross-disability civil rights organization. The mission of the
DRLC is to champion the rights of people with disabilities through
education, advocacy and litigation. Prior to her current position at the
DRLC, she was the Director of Litigation and Deputy Director of Advocacy
Programs.
Ms. Pearlman is a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Loyola Law
School, Los Angeles, teaching Disability Rights and Special Education law
as well as litigation skills.
Photo of Paula Pearlman
She also teaches Special Education Law and Advocacy at Loyola
Marymount University, Department of Education. Ms. Pearlman is an
experienced litigator, with extensive experience in class action litigation
in the areas of disability rights, sex discrimination and immigration law.
Ms. Pearlman is a member of the ABA Commission on Disability Rights
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(2011 – present), and the California Commission on Access to Justice,
Federal Courts Committee (2007-present). She is the current board chair
of the Employment Round Table of Southern California (ERTSC), and a
board member of the Legal Aid Association of California. Previously, she
was Co-Chair, Lawyer Representatives, Central District, Ninth Circuit
Judicial Conference (2008-2009), a member of the California State Bar
Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, and was on the U.
S. Access Board, Courthouse Access Advisory Committee.
Ms. Pearlman received the St. Ignatius of Loyola Award in February 2010,
and received a “FEHA 50th Anniversary Civil Rights Award” from the
Department of Fair Employment and Housing, State of California in
November 2009. Ms. Pearlman was named as a “Super Lawyer” in 2009
in the area of public interest law and class actions. She is the recipient of
the 2007 Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC) Attorney Award of
Merit Recipient, and a finalist as attorney of the year for Trial Lawyers
for Public Justice. In 2006, Ms. Pearlman was named one of the “Top 75
Women Litigators” in California by the Daily Journal.
Jason M. Turkish is a third-year law student at the Northwestern
University School of Law. Legally blind since birth, Jason has used his law
school experience to focus on disability rights. As a public interest law
extern, Jason has worked on cases of national importance including a
Federal Court challenge to the American Bar Association’s requirement
that blind law school applicants take the Law School Admission Test.
Jason himself fought and won against the discriminatory practices of the
Law School Admission Council when he successfully sued the entity for
failing to provide reasonable accommodations to him for the LSAT. Prior
to attending law school, Jason earned his undergraduate degree in
Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Photo of Jason Turkish
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10:45 – 11:45 Panel 2: Career Paths in the Private and Non-Profit Sectors
Photo of Stephanie Ortoleva
Stephanie Ortoleva is an attorney with expertise in international human
rights law and U.S. civil rights law. She is not only a woman with a
disability herself who is a renowned advocate for the rights of persons
with disabilities and for women, but also has extensive experience in
multilateral diplomacy, including the United Nations and Organization of
American States systems. At the leading international law firm, BlueLaw
International, LLP, she serves as the Senior Human Rights Legal Advisor,
where she focuses on disability rights, women’s rights, rule of law issues,
and human rights education, with concentrations on human rights
programming in developing, transition and post-conflict countries. She
also addresses democracy and governance work on the promotion of
human rights, particularly for marginalized populations and their
representative organizations. Ms. Ortoleva also is an Associate of the
American University Center for Global Peace.
Previously, Ms. Ortoleva served as an Attorney and Human Rights Officer
at the U.S. Department of State, where she also held the position as the
Department’s Disability Coordinator, to incorporate disability rights
issues into the Department’s work and participated in the negotiations of
the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, serving on
the United States governmental delegation. Ms. Ortoleva is the founder
and Co-Chair of the American Society for International Law’s
International Disability Rights Interest Group. She graduated from
Hofstra University School of Law.
Photo of Brette Steele
Brette Steele graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2007 and clerked
for Judge Dorothy Nelson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Following her clerkship, Brette worked as a Supreme Court and Appellate
Associate at Mayer Brown LLP for several years before transitioning back
to public service. Brette was a founding member of the National
Association of Law Students with Disabilities and Vice Chair of Disability
Power & Pride.
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Photo of Peter W. Thomas
Peter W. Thomas joined Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville in 1991 and became
a principal in 1996. Mr. Thomas has a federal law and legislative practice in
the areas of health care and disability policy, Medicare coverage and
reimbursement policy, medical rehabilitation services, devices and
research, and vocational and community services and supports. Mr.
Thomas’ public service includes: National Advisory Council of the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (“AHRQ”), US Department of Health
and Human Services (1998 to 2001); President's Advisory Commission on
Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry: Chair;
Subcommittee on Consumer Rights, Protections and Responsibilities
(1997-1998); National Advisory Board for the Center on Medical
Rehabilitation Research (“NCMRR”) at the National Institutes of Health
(1992-1996); and Institute of Medicine Committee on Improving the
Disability Decision Process: SSA’s Listing of Impairments and Agency
Access to Medical Expertise; National Academy of Sciences (2005-2006).
Mr. Thomas has served on a number of non-profit boards and he has
served as Co-Chair of the Health Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens
with Disabilities (CCD) for over fifteen years and General Counsel to the
National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics
(NAAOP).
Mr. Thomas has personal experience with disability and is co-author of The
Americans with Disabilities Act: A Guidebook for Management and People
with Disabilities. Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville is a Washington, D.C.based law firm that focuses on healthcare, education and the law of taxexempt organizations.
Photo of Rebecca Williford
Rebecca Williford joined Disability Rights Advocates as the Learning
Disability Access/Ryder Foundation Fellow in 2009, and is currently a staff
attorney representing the rights of people with disabilities in class action
litigation. She is also a co-editor of Lawyers, Lead On: Lawyers with
Disabilities Share Their Insights (ABA Press 2011), Vice Chair of the ABA
Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, and a past Commissioner of the ABA
Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law. Rebecca earned her
B.A. in political science with highest honors in 2004 and her J.D. as a Jack
Kent Cooke Scholar in 2009, both from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. A wheelchair-user herself, Rebecca co-founded and served as
president of the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities as
a law student. She continues to do grassroots organizational work to
mentor law students with disabilities and build community among lawyers
with disabilities.
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1:45 – 2:45 Panel 3: Current Issues in Disability Law and Policy
Kareem Dale is blind and grew up in Chicago. He graduated Cum Laude
with his JD/MBA, became a successful lawyer and was appointed by
President Obama as a Special Assistant to the President for Disability
Policy, the highest ranking position on disability ever to be created by a
President. Before joining the Obama administration, he was the
Managing Partner of The Dale Law Group. He also has been active in
community service, serving as the past President of the Board of Directors
for the Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago. He was recognized in the
November-December 2001 issue of Ebony magazine as one of the 30
Leaders of the Future under 30.
Photo of Kareem Dale
Photo of Andrew Imparato
Andrew J. Imparato is the Senior Counsel and Disability Policy Director for
the Senate HELP Committee and was the first full-time President and Chief
Executive Officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities
(AAPD), a national non-profit membership organization for the political
and economic empowerment of all people with disabilities in the U.S. With
more than 100,000 members, AAPD is the largest cross-disability
membership organization in the U.S. and is based in Washington, D.C.
Imparato recently organized and led a coalition of more than 200
disability, civil rights and employer organizations to enact the Americans
with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, which was signed into law by
President Bush on September 25, 2008. Prior to joining AAPD, Imparato
was general counsel and director of policy for the National Council on
Disability, an attorney advisor with the US Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability
Policy, and a staff attorney/Skadden Fellow with the Disability Law Center
in Boston, Massachusetts. Imparato graduated with distinction from
Stanford Law School and is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College.
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Ronza M. Othman is currently an Equal Employment Specialist with the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights
(OEOCR). Ms. Othman manages and processes complaints of
employment discrimination, provides EEO counseling to aggrieved parties,
advises Agency leadership on civil rights policies and programs,
administers Agency contracts, and implements settlement agreements.
Ms. Othman previously served as a Reasonable Accommodations
Coordinator with CMS.
Photo of Ronza Othman
Prior to joining the Department of Health and Human Services, Ms.
Othman served as a Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Her work involved
engagement with post-9-11 communities in order to facilitate integration
and counter violent extremism. Ms. Othman also previously investigated
and adjudicated employment discrimination claims with the Office of the
Cook County compliance Administrator. She prosecuted felony and
misdemeanor criminal cases with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s
Office as well as disability law and Medicaid fraud matters in the Office of
the Illinois Attorney General. Additionally, Ms. Othman has practiced
immigration, disability, social security, family, criminal defense, and real
estate law both with a private law firm and as a solo practitioner.
Ms. Othman is currently the First Vice President of the National
Association of Blind Lawyers. Ms. Othman earned Bachelors Degrees in
Biological & Natural Sciences and Philosophy from Saint Xavier University
in Chicago. She earned a Masters Degree in Government and Nonprofit
Management with a certificate in Healthcare Administration from DePaul
University. She also earned a Juris Doctor from DePaul University College
of Law.
Photo of Anna Scholin
Anna Scholin is a 2011 graduate of Stanford Law School and a former
President of NALSWD. Currently in the first year of a two-year clerkship at
the US Department of Labor, she is also serving a term on the ABA
Commission for Disability Rights. Anna is active in the NALSWD alumni
network and hopes to see the national lawyers group get off the ground
soon. Anna joined the disability community in January of her 1L year with
the sudden onset of Rheumatoid Arthritis, an auto-immune disorder that
attacks the joints. She also offers a side dish of depression and a little dab
of carpal tunnel.
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3:00 – 4:00 Panel 4: Government Jobs and Hiring
Day Al-Mohamed currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor with the U.S.
Department of Labor. Prior to that, Ms. Al-Mohamed worked as Senior
Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer with the American Psychological
Association (APA). She managed APA’s legislative and regulatory
activities related to public interest policy issues in the arenas of Disability,
Racial and Ethnic Minorities and some International Development.
Photo of Day Al-Mohamed
She has also served on the board of the Consortium for Citizens with
Disabilities (CCD) and was a co-chair of the CCD Civil Rights Task Force and
the International Task Force. In addition, Ms. Al-Mohamed was an active
member of several other Task Forces including Emergency Preparedness,
Education and Health before her current employment precluded such
activities. However, she continues to serve on the Board of Directors of
the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Ms. AlMohamed holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri-Columbia
and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work.
Rebecca Cokley is Director of Priority Placement for Public Engagement
within the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House. Her job is to
recruit candidates for the Obama Administration that reflect the diversity
of the American people. She previously served as the Confidential
Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education. She has over
15 year’s experience advising government agencies, civil rights
organizations, and disability organizations on transition issues, helping
existing organizations that support education build their capacity in
serving at-risk youth including youth with disabilities, and advising and
mentoring youth organizations in key issues related to education reform.
Ms. Cokley was the Project Coordinator for the National Consortium on
Leadership and Disability for Youth in Washington D.C. She was also the
Youth Development Specialist for the National Collaborative on
Workforce and Disability/Youth, a Dept. of Labor Funded TA Center tasked
on improving the outcomes of youth with disabilities in the workforce
development system. During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Rebecca
served on the leadership team of the Obama Disability Policy Committee.
Rebecca has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California
Santa Cruz and is an alumni of the Education Policy Fellowship Program.
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Photo of Allison Nichol
Photo of Janice Ta
Allison Nichol is Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights
Division where she oversees litigation and regulatory and policy
development under the Americans With Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation
Act, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. She has served
as Special Counsel on Disability Issues to the Office of the Associate
Attorney General and serves as the Department of Justice liaison to the
White House Office of National AIDS Policy on the National Strategy on
HIV/AIDS. She is a nationally known employment and trial lawyer and
lecturer on ADA, employment, and HIV/AIDS discrimination issues, trial
practice and strategy. She is also an adjunct Professor of Law at the
Georgetown University Law Center where she teaches disability
discrimination law.
Janice Ta is an associate in the Intellectual Property section of Vinson &
Elkins LLP. Janice was born on a Vietnamese refugee camp in Pulau
Bidong, Malaysia where she contracted polio as an infant. She became
actively involved with disability rights while she was an undergraduate,
directing the Stanford Disability Speaker's Bureau to raise awareness of
mobility and access issues on campus. From 2006-2007, she worked as
the Program Assistant and the interim National Coordinator for Disability
Mentoring Day at the American Association of People with Disabilities.
She served as President of the National Association of Law Students with
Disabilities from 2009-2010, after two years as the organization’s Chief
Financial Officer.
Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, Janice served as a judicial clerk to the
Honorable Timothy B. Dyk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit. While a student at Yale Law School, Janice was executive editor of
the Yale Journal of Law and Technology and a fellow at the Yale
Information Society Project. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford
University with a B.A. in Art History and a B.S. in Symbolic Systems, where
her studies focused on the design of human-computer interfaces. Prior to
attending law school, Janice was a product manager and user experience
designer at a social networking company in Mountain View, California.
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5:00 – 5:45 Keynote Speech
Photo of Eve Hill
Eve Hill is a nationally known expert on disability rights law. Ms. Hill is
Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the
U.S. Department of Justice, where she is responsible for oversight of the
Division’s disability rights enforcement. Ms. Hill was previously Of
Counsel with the law firm of Brown Goldstein & Levy, where she helped
lead the firm’s disability rights practice. Prior to joining Brown Goldstein
& Levy, Ms. Hill was Senior Vice President of the Burton Blatt Institute at
Syracuse University (in the Washington, D.C. office), where she was
responsible for the Institute’s disability civil rights work. Ms. Hill is an
expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and her recent work
has focused on accessibility of electronic books, the internet, and
information technology; and procurement, affirmative action and
subminimum wage employment programs.
Previously, Ms. Hill was the founding Director of the Washington D.C.
Office of Disability Rights, a Cabinet-level D.C. government agency
dedicated to improving access for people with disabilities to
government programs and making the District a model of accessibility.
Prior to joining the District, Ms. Hill was Executive Director of the
Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles, which advocates for the
civil rights of people with disabilities through impact civil rights
litigation, special education advocacy, training and technical assistance,
mediation, and other methods. She was also a Visiting Associate
Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, where she taught Disability
Rights Law and Special Education Law. Ms. Hill served on the California
State Bar’s Council on Access and Fairness and the American Bar
Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law, and was
Co-Chair of the U.S. Access Board’s Courthouse Accessibility Advisory
Committee.
Ms. Hill is the co-author of a treatise and a casebook on “Disability Civil
Rights Law and Policy.” Ms. Hill has served as an Adjunct Professor at
the University of Southern California School of Law and Loyola
Marymount University School of Education.
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9:00 – 9:45 Crash Course in Disability Law
Photo of Carrie Griffin Basas
Carrie Griffin Basas is a post-graduate research fellow at Harvard Law
School and a visiting associate professor of law at Case Western Reserve
University. She has also taught at the University of North Carolina School
of Law, Penn State University, the University of Tulsa College of Law, and
Saint Joseph's College of Maine. Her research, teaching, and advocacy
focus on disability rights law, criminal law, employment discrimination,
labor law, and professional responsibility. She is interested in the
advancement of people with disabilities in the workplace, the role of
disability in the courts, and the intersection of disability and health equity
issues. She conducted the first qualitative empirical study of the work
experiences of women attorneys with disabilities and is currently working
on several empirical projects related to health stigma in criminal
sentencing and disability diversity issues in unions. Professor Basas is a
graduate of Swarthmore and Harvard Law School.
10:00 – 10:45 Closing Speech
Chai Feldblum was nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the EEOC by
President Barack Obama, and was confirmed by the Senate, for a term
ending on July 1, 2013. Prior to her appointment to the EEOC, she was a
Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where she has
taught since 1991. At Georgetown, she founded the Federal Legislation
and Administrative Clinic, which represented clients such as Catholic
Charities USA, the National Disability Rights Network, and the Bazelon
Center for Mental Health Law. She founded and co-directed Workplace
Flexibility 2010, a policy enterprise focused on finding common ground
between employers and employees on workplace flexibility issues.
Photo of Chai Feldblum
As Legislative Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union from 1988 to
1991, Commissioner Feldblum played a leading role in helping to draft and
negotiate the ground-breaking ADA. Later, as a law professor
representing the Epilepsy Foundation, she was instrumental in the
drafting and negotiating of the ADA Amendments Act. She has also
worked to advance lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, has
been one of the drafters of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, and is
the first openly lesbian Commissioner of the EEOC. She clerked for Judge
Frank Coffin of the First Circuit Court of Appeals and for Supreme Court
Justice Harry A. Blackmun after receiving her J.D. from Harvard Law
School. She received her B.A. degree from Barnard College.
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NALSWD 2011-2012 Executive Board
Photo of Beth Kolbe
Photo of Nora Devine
Beth Kolbe, President, is a member of the class of 2012 at Stanford Law
School. At Stanford, she served as the Co- President of the Stanford Law
Association and is an Associate Editor of the Stanford Law and Policy
Review. Beth was also Co-Case Manager in Stanford’s Social Security and
Disability Pro Bono Project. Beth spent her 1L summer at Powers, Pyles,
Sutter & Verville (PPSV) and split her 2L summer between PPSV and Sidley
Austin, LLC, both in Washington, D.C. She has been a member of the U.S.
Paralympic Swim Team and has competed all over the world, most
recently in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. She graduated with
Honors from Harvard in 2008 with a Special Concentration degree in
Health Care Policy. Originally a native of Ohio, Beth has been active in
disability rights organizations since high school. Beth has a spinal cord
injury from an accident at the age of 14.
Nora Devine, Co-Vice-President, class of 2012 at the University of San
Francisco Law School, is co-founder of the University of San Francisco's
Association of Law Students for Disability Rights. She is also the USF Law
Student Body Representative for Students with Disabilities. Nora worked
her 1L summer at Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund in
Berkeley, CA. She has a BA in Japanese from San Francisco State
University and a certificate in Japanese language studies from Reitaku
University in Japan. After college, Nora spent four years working and
studying in Japan. While in Japan, she became active in the disability
community by volunteering at the Japan Civil Liberties Union and a center
for children with autism. Nora was born with nystagmus and has low
vision.
Deepa Goraya, Co-Vice-President, is a 3L at the University of Michigan
School of Law. She graduated Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the
University of California, Los Angeles with a BA in English and a double
minor in Classical Civilization and African American Studies. Deepa has
been an intern for Senator Dodd, a White House intern for the Special
Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, Kareem Dale, an extern for
the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, and most recently was an
intern for Eve Hill at the Burton Blatt Institute in Washington D.C. Deepa
has a visual impairment.
Photo of Deepa Goraya
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Photo of Greg Oguss
Greg Oguss, Chief Financial Officer, class of 2013 at the Northwestern
University School of Law, graduated cum laude from Columbia University
with a BA in Economics. Greg also has an MA in Critical Studies from the
University of Southern California where he was an Oakley Fellow. He was
an Extern in the chambers of U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert of
the Northern District of Illinois, is a Research Assistant for Professor Len
Rubinowitz, and volunteers with both the Chicago Bar Foundation and
Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. At USC, Greg served
as an assistant instructor in media studies and published several journal
articles. In addition to working for Neighborhood Legal Services of Los
Angeles County in their worker's rights clinic, he has been a paralegal in
New York and Los Angeles. In 1997, Greg was diagnosed with Type I
Diabetes and Peripheral Neuropathy.
Kevin Fritz, Co-Chief Information Officer, is a second-year law student at
Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. He has
interned on Capitol Hill in the Office of Senator Barack Obama conducting
policy related research regarding world health and autism, and most
recently in the Office of Commissioner Chai Feldblum at the United States
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission conducting research on
employment discrimination and investigating potential charges of
discrimination arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act. During
the fall of 2011 he will continue his work with the Commissioner while also
serving as a research assistant and public relations coordinator for his
school’s public service advisory board. Kevin has a mobility impairment.
Photo of Kevin Fritz
Alexander Thompson, Co-Chief Information Officer, is a member of the
Class of 2012 at St. John's University School of Law; he is President of the
Disability Rights Society. He received his BA in Sociology with a
concentration in Legal Studies and an Economics minor from Bucknell
University. At Bucknell, he was a Kenneth G. Langone Scholar and served
as Technology Officer for the Delta Upsilon fraternity, as well as the
campus chapter of STAND: Students Against Genocide. He is also an
Eagle Scout. Alexander has a mobility impairment.
Photo of Alexander Thompson
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Photo of Patrick Dennis
Patrick Dennis, Membership Director, attends Lewis and Clark Law
School and will graduate in 2013. He earned his BA in History and
Humanities (Classical Civilizations) from the University of Oregon in 2003.
Prior to law school, Patrick worked in a number of fields including
substantial time at credit unions and universities as well as shorts stints at
a comedy club and veterinary clinic. Patrick joined the disability
community in late 2004 when he was diagnosed with aggressive
rheumatoid arthritis. Patrick has worked as a clerk for Disability Rights
Oregon. He sits on the Campus Accessibility Committee and serves as the
Diversity Committee Representative for the Student Bar Association.
Next summer he will be clerking in the Office of Enforcement &
Compliance Assurance at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in
Washington, D.C. Patrick has a mobility impairment.
Kate Carroll, Conference Director, attends St. John's University School of
Law and will graduate in 2013. She has work experience teaching,
working at local level government, and with inclusive human rights
through BlueLaw International, LLP. Kate is also a volunteer with a
Courtroom Advocates Program and is part of her school's Child Advocacy
Clinic. Kate has a visual impairment.
Photo of Kate Carroll
Special Thanks To:
Andra Chernack and Everyone at George Washington
University Law School!
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Conference Locations

All conference events except for the Happy
Hour and Small Group Dinners will take place
in the Student Conference Center
BlackFinn Restaurant
1620 I Street NW
Washington, D.C., 20006
 Happy Hour Friday 5-7pm
George Washington University Law School
Student Conference Center
2000 H Street, NW
Washington, D.C., 20052
Phone: 202.994.1010
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Small Group Dinner Locations

Reservations have been made at each restaurant for Saturday evening. Dinner groups will form
directly after the Keynote Speech at 5:45 and will make plans to travel to/meet for dinner.
Burma Restaurant (near Gallery Place Chinatown Metro Station)
15 people @ 6:30 PM
202.638.1280
740 6th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Reservation name: NALSWD
Capitol City Brewing Co. (near Metro Center Metro Station)
15 people @ 7:15 PM
202.628.2222
1100 New York Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20005
Vanessa made the reservation
Reservation name: NALSWD
Kinkead’s (.3 miles from conference)
5 people @ 6:30 PM
202.296.7700
2000 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Whitney made the reservation
Reservation name: NALSWD
Bertucci’s (.3 miles from conference)
10 people @ 6:30 PM
202.296.2600
2000 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Nial made the reservation
Reservation name: NALSWD
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Tonic Restaurant (.4 miles from conference)
10 people @ 6:30 PM
202.296.0211
2036 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Andrew made the reservation
Reservation name: NALSWD
Asia Nine (near Metro Center Metro Station and Gallery Place Chinatown Metro Station)
15 people @ 7:00 PM
202.629.4355
915 E St, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
Reservation name: Beth Kolbe
Elephant & Castle (.2 miles from conference)
10 people @ 7:00 PM
202.296.2575
900 19th St, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Reservation name: NALSWD
Aria Pizzeria & Bar (near Federal Triangle and Metro Center Metro Stations)
10 people @ 7:00 PM
202.312.1250
1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
Reservation name: Beth Kolbe
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