Revisit Global Disability Cause Lawyering

Adopted by the United Nations in 2006, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has inspired a new generation of lawyers to assist clients with disabilities seeking remedies for human rights violations before local, national, and international bodies. While many of these lawyers narrowly advocate for their individual clients’ rights, others endeavor more strategically to bring cases that will advance systemic CRPD implementation for the broader disability community. Strategic litigation, or cause lawyering, to advance the human rights of various groups based on their identities (e.g., race), or on thematic issues cutting across populations (e.g., economic, social and cultural rights), has been extensively studied. However, the complex dynamics and considerations that inform disability-specific cause lawyers remain almost unexplored.

This event, co-hosted by the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession and the Harvard Law School Project on Disability in March 2022, presents a window into these dynamics by describing the efforts of litigants around the world to advance protections of persons with disabilities’ rights in international and local fora. Co-sponsored by International Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.