Book Release: Lawyers, Lead On: Lawyers with Disabilities Share Their Insights

CHICAGO, May 26, 2011 – The American Bar Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law has published Lawyers, Lead On: Lawyers with Disabilities Share Their Insights to help students, new lawyers, allies and employers better understand people with disabilities and reimagine the legal profession from the standpoint of disability.

People with disabilities are profoundly underrepresented in the legal profession.  While they only represent an estimated 10 percent of the law school population, the percentage of legal professionals with disabilities is even lower.  Disabled law students and attorneys must cope with a wide range of employment barriers, including stereotyping, limited professional opportunities, and concerns about disclosure of disability, hiring, promotion and retention.

Written by lawyers with disabilities, the book is an inspiring collection of their letters of encouragement and advice to the next generation of legal professionals. It features authors with a range of experiences that honor different perspectives on work and disability, including people with non-apparent disabilities, people of color, women, LGBT lawyers, older lawyers and others. Their moving stories help foster a cross-disability community and offer hope and encouragement to students, young lawyers and all who face adversity in the legal profession.

Lawyers, Lead On begins with the transition to law school, which presents unique hurdles for people with disabilities.  Two of the five authors in this section – an established lawyer and a law professor – recount the challenges they faced as blind students, and the successes they achieved.  Others take on the topics of mental health, diminished mobility and cerebral palsy.

Five subsequent chapters discuss disability and disclosure, disability identity, the foundation of a meaningful career, awareness building in the profession and reflections on the disability rights movement.

In addition, the book includes an index to experiences discussed in the authors’ letters.  These are arranged by category: type of disability, socio-cultural and work.

The American Bar Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law was established in 1973 to respond to the advocacy needs of persons with mental disabilities. After the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the ABA broadened the Commission’s mission to serve all persons with disabilities. Today, the Commission carries out an array of projects and activities addressing disability-related public policy, disability law, and the professional needs of lawyers and law students with disabilities.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

Title: Lawyers, Lead On: Lawyers with Disabilities Share Their Insights
Publisher: ABA Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law
Pages: 200
Product Code: 4410212
ISBN: 978-1-61632-827-6
Size: 6 x 9
Binding: Paperback
Price: $39.95; $29.95 for ABA members; $19.95 for Law Student Division members
Orders: Order the book at www.ababooks.org or call 1-800-285-2221=

Editor’s note: Copies are available by sending an e-mail to Denise Eichhorn at Denise.Eichhorn@americanbar.org.  If you publish a review of this book, please send tearsheets or a copy for our files to Denise Eichhorn, c/o ABA Publishing, 321 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654.

-30-