Expanding the Scope of American Disability Law

On August 27, 2012, Loyola was fortunate to host a delegation of 20 Japanese lawyers and academics. These lawyers, all of whom have an interest in disability law and policy, spent the day at Loyola learning about American and California disability law. After an overview of the area from Professor Michael Waterstone (pictured, right), they heard from Professor Sande Buhai, Professor Jan Costello, Professor Michael Smith, and Professor Julie Waterstone (Southwestern) about the ways disability law is taught in American Law Schools. After lunch, there was a distinguished panel of practitioners who discussed their practice experience in this area. Wilmer Harris, a partner at Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison, LLP, Chris Knauf, the founder and sole proprietor of Knauf Associates, and Autumn Elliot, an Associate Managing Attorney at Disability Rights California, participated in this panel. The delegation then visited the Disability Rights Legal Center at Loyola's Downtown Public Interest Center to hear about their work.
This session was part of an ongoing collaboration between Michael Waterstone and Professor Jun Nakagawa of Professor at Hokusei Gaukuen University and Professor Yoshimi Kikuchi at Waseda University. We look forward to working together on similar events in the future.