Jennifer Mathis


Deputy Legal Director and Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

Biography


Jennifer Mathis is Deputy Legal Director and Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law where she engages in litigation and policy advocacy to promote community integration of individuals with mental disabilities, other non-discrimination work under the ADA and Section 504, and the Medicaid rights of adults and children with disabilities. Ms. Mathis helped coordinate the amicus briefs filed in the Supreme Court in the case of Olmstead v. L.C. She also served on the team of disability community negotiators who worked with the business community to craft what became the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. Ms. Mathis left the Bazelon Center for one year to serve as special assistant to EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum in 2010-2011; in that role she helped draft regulations implementing the ADAAA. Before joining the Bazelon Center, Ms. Mathis conducted litigation involving ADA, Section 504, the Fair Housing Act, and Title XIX claims with the Disabilities Law Project in Pittsburgh. She also practiced with a private law firm where she pursued litigation on a broad range of civil rights issues. Ms. Mathis holds an A.B. from Harvard University, an M.A. from New York University, and a J. D. from Georgetown University Law Center.