Legal Advocacy Teams

While the Investigations and Monitoring team carries out the protection duties of Disability Rights New Jersey’s Protection and Advocacy role, the legal teams bear primary responsibility for advocacy. Operating as a nonprofit law firm, the legal teams engage in advocacy through legal representation of individual clients or on behalf of all New Jerseyans with disabilities when systemic issues are identified.

Because Disability Rights NJ prioritizes legal issues covering many areas of law and categories of client, we organize the attorneys and advocates into issue teams focusing on employment, institutional rights, and community inclusion for adults and youth. A managing attorney leads each issue team. In turn, the managing attorneys report to the Legal Director. When legal issues bridge the teams’ areas of expertise, staff from multiple teams may be assigned to handle a matter or less formally consult with each other.

The legal teams coordinate with the Investigation and Monitoring team and Policy team as needed. This coordination may come in the form of legal analysis to inform monitors of rights violations to watch out for, input into Disability Rights NJ’s regulatory comments, or on-the-ground assistance with investigations requiring a large staff presence to complete.