Susan Stefan, Esq., Center for Public Representation

David Ferleger, Esq., Philadelphia, PA

David Ferleger, J.D., of Philadelphia, PA, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1972. He has a national law and consulting practice, specializing in public interest, civil rights and disability law. He has litigated landmark disability cases, argued five times before the Supreme Court of the United States, assisted the courts, represented individuals and government agencies, taught law school, and has written, lectured and consulted nationally. Mr. Ferleger has served federal courts, presiding over hearings and assisting courts as special master for nearly nine years in one recent case, and as court-appointed monitor in a large class action in another case. Mr. Ferleger is a founding member of the Academy of Court Appointed Masters (ACAM), and on the publications committee for its Bench Book for judges. Mr. Ferleger filed in 1974 and litigated to its conclusion many years later the Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital case. For twenty years, he represented plaintiffs in Lelsz v. Kavanagh, a Texas class action which reformed the mental retardation system in the state. Mr. Ferleger has taught at the New York University Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Writing in the disabilities field has included book chapters, books of legal materials, law review articles, and popular magazine and newspaper articles. For a list of published articles, or to learn more about Mr. Ferleger, please visit his website.

Steven J. Schwartz, Esq., Executive Director, Center for Public Representation

Steven J. Schwartz is the Executive Director of the Center for Public Representation.  He has practiced disability and civil rights law since 1971.  He has extensive experience litigating class action cases related to the reform and development of community services systems for persons with disabilities, as well as civil rights damage cases for institutionalized persons.  He currently is litigating seven community integration class action cases in Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and Massachusetts, including one for children with emotional and psychiatric disabilities in Massachusetts. Mr. Schwartz has authored a number of law review articles related to issues affecting the rights of persons with disabilities and has testified before the Congress on several occasions.  He has been on the faculty of the Harvard and Western New England Law Schools.  He also is one of the Center's senior attorneys who provides litigation support and technical assistance to attorneys in Massachusetts and throughout the country on mental disability issues.

Ira A. Burnim, Esq., Legal Director,  Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Ira A. Burnim, a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, joined the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law staff in 1988 and has been its legal director since 1990. Previously, he was a staff attorney and then a senior attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 1986, he became legal director of the Children’s Defense Fund. Mr. Burnim is recognized nationally for his expertise in policy and legal issues related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He has litigated precedent-setting class action lawsuits representing thousands of adults and children with mental disabilities on issues related to mental health and managed care, child welfare system reform and the ADA. Mr. Burnim has played a major role in Supreme Court cases involving discrimination against people with disabilities and spearheaded the disability community’s efforts in the 1999 Olmstead case, which re-affirmed the ADA’s “community integration mandate.” Currently, Mr. Burnim serves on the boards of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, as well as the Editorial Advisory Board of the American Bar Association’s Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter, and the National Advisory Committee to the Research and Training Center on Parent Support and Children’s Mental Health. On missions with Mental Disability Rights International (on whose Advisory Board he serves), Mr. Burnim has helped to investigate human rights abuses in psychiatric facilities and provided training and technical assistance to advocates and policy makers in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Albania, Romania, Ukraine, and Japan.

Sidney D. Watson, Esq.,  Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

Carrie Griffin Basas, Esq., Post-Graduate Research Fellow at Harvard Law School

Carrie Griffin Basas is Post-Graduate Research Fellow at Harvard Law School, where she focuses on disability rights law, employment discrimination, criminal law, and professional responsibility. Other research interests include feminist theory, animal law, food law, and social movements.  She has published in a number of journals, including the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law, the Berkeley Gender Law Journal, and the Rutgers Law Journal.  Professor Basas is currently working on two book projects - one a disability rights textbook and the other a collection of mentoring advice for emerging attorneys with disabilities.  For a list of published articles and other works, or to learn more about Ms. Basas, please visit her website.

Daniel Crimmins, Ph.D., Director, Georgia State University Center for Leadership in Disability

Daniel Crimmins serves as Director of the Center for Leadership in Disability – a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.  He is Clinical Professor in the Institute of Public Health.  Throughout his career, Dr. Crimmins has worked to improve the capacity of organizations to provide evidence-based behavioral and educational interventions for children and adults with disabilities. Dr. Crimmins has a particular interest in issues that reflect the intersection of research, practice, and policy.  Dr. Crimmins received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in psychology from Binghamton University, and completed an internship in clinical psychology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  In 2002 and 2003, Dr. Crimmins was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in Washington DC, where he worked in the Office of Senator Jim Jeffords on health and education policy.

Jessica Howell, M.P.H., Assistant Director, Georgia State University Center for Leadership in Disability

Jessica Howell serves as the Assistant Director of the Center for Leadership in Disability.  She coordinates interdisciplinary training for graduate and undergraduate students.  Ms. Howell has a career interest in health promotion and education, in particular, improving the representation and consideration of people with disabilities in public health curriculum.  Before joining the Center for Leadership in Disability, Ms. Howell worked for the Georgia Advocacy Office, Georgia's protection and advocacy organization.  She also worked with Employment First Georgia pursuing customized employment initiatives for people with disabilities. Ms. Howell received her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Georgia and M.P.H. from Georgia State University.

Stacey Ramirez, Georgia State University Center for Leadership in Disability

Stacey Ramirez joined Georgia State University in August 2008 as the Director of Individual and Family Supports.  Ms. Ramirez has a career interest in community inclusion and person-centered planning with a particular interest in furthering the human rights of people with developmental disabilities. Ms. Ramirez graduated with a B.S. in Education from the University of West Georgia, and is presently pursuing her Masters in Education.  Prior to coming to GSU, Ms. Ramirez was the Health and Human Rights Coordinator in the Office of Developmental Disabilities of the Department of Human Resources.  She is a 2007 graduate of the Partners in Policymaking training program,. Ms. Ramirez is the proud mother of three boys, one of whom has autism.

Charlie Bliss, Esq., Director of Advocacy, Atlanta Legal Aid Society

Charles Bliss is the Director of Advocacy at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc.  He has been in that position since October 2005.  Prior to that, Mr. Bliss worked in private practice for the firms of Buckley & Klein, LLP and Greene, Buckley, Jones & McQueen specializing in representing employees in a variety of legal matters including employment discrimination and employment contracts.  Prior to private practice, he worked at Atlanta Legal Aid, Three Rivers Legal Services in Gainesville, Florida and the ACLU of Mississippi.  He has served as counsel in class actions and numerous individual lawsuits in both state and federal courts.    

Talley Wells, Esq., Atlanta Legal Aid Society

Talley Wells is a senior attorney in the Mental Health and Disability Rights Project at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc. In his tenth year, at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, he advocates on behalf of clients at Georgia Regional Hospital and in nursing homes to return to active lives in the community. He also represents clients in Medicaid waiver cases. He was a coordinator for the Long Road Home -- Olmstead 10th anniversary celebrations throughout Georgia. He has actively advocated on behalf of people with disabilities on issues relating to the state's voluntary compliance agreement with the HHS Office of Civil Rights, the Georgia-Justice Department settlement agreement, and Georgia's Olmstead Planning Committee. His primary advocacy is for increased integrated housing opportunities for individuals being discharged from Georgia Regional Hospital. Along with his wife, he is part of a group working to start a L'Arche community in Atlanta that will include adults with developmental disabilities. He is a former skipper on the world famous Jungle Cruise at Walt Disney World.

Kathy E. Sawyer, ACSW, Consultant and Former State Mental Health Commissioner (Alabama)

Kathy E. Sawyer holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Alabama and is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers of the National Association of Social Workers, Inc.  Ms. Sawyer served as Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health from 1999 until her retirement in 2005, where she was a cabinet appointee of both a Democratic and Republican Governor.  During her tenure, Ms. Sawyer, in her first year, reached a federal court approved settlement in the Wyatt v. Stickney case and later, termination of the case in 2003.  Her Wyatt reforms led to more than 600 hundred individuals being placed from state institutions and millions of new dollars for community housing, programs, and other supports.  Following Wyatt’s termination, Ms. Sawyer led the successful closure and consolidation of six of Alabama’s 14 state institutions in a record six months period. 

Since retirement, Ms. Sawyer has served as an independent consultant to a number of agencies and organizations including the National Center for Women, Trauma and Violence; Southern Poverty Law Center; Governor of Alabama; Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA); the Franklin Resources Group; Eli Lilly Co. and, the Department on Disability Services for the District of Columbia.  In the District of Columbia, Ms. Sawyer was appointed to the Cabinet of two Mayors as Interim Director of the Developmental Disabilities Administration where she was successful in establishing the agency as an independent cabinet level department.  Ms. Sawyer’s reforms in the agency, under the Evans v. Williams case, also led to new community based waiver services, increased home like placements, and supported employment for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.