BarbriSFCourseDetails
  • videocam On-Demand
  • signal_cellular_alt Intermediate
  • card_travel Ethics and Specialty Credits
  • schedule 60 minutes

Disability and Professionalism: Inclusive Legal Practice in Action

$197.00

This course is $0 with these passes:

CLE
ALL
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Description

Legal professionalism is conduct that demonstrates a lawyer's commitment to ethical integrity, service, civility, and competence, reflecting a role as both advocate and officer of the court. CDC statistics hold that while more than one in four adults have a recognized disability, only one in 20 law students self-reported a disability in the 2021 graduating class. This experience disparity holds potential for misunderstanding disabled parties within the justice system.

Effective, professional representation and advocacy requires awareness and support for the disabled experience. This program addresses important elements of professionalism with emphasis on ensuring appropriate and professional interactions with the disabled community.  

Learn how to better understand disability in context, recognizing systemic barriers and ableism, knowing the legal foundations for professionalism, and applying new approaches to professional cultural challenges including visibility bias, workplace inclusion, facility and technology design, and more. 

Listen as our expert shares her own experience and covers how attorneys can model professionalism in their daily interactions with disabled clients, associates, or opposing counsel.    

Presented By

Catarina A. Colón
Senior Associate
Husch Blackwell LLP
Ann E. Motl
Senior Counsel
Bowman and Brooke LLP

Ms. Motl concentrates her practice defending medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers in individual product liability lawsuits, mass torts, multidistrict litigation and class actions, leveraging her mechanical engineering background to practice in the intersection of technology and law. She has experience serving as national coordinating counsel for medical device companies and always strives to preserve company resources while reducing risk. Ms. Motl has appeared in state and federal courts across the country conducting witness interviews, depositions and drafting and arguing motions. She devises and provides technology strategy to her clients in a variety of areas, including discovery, witness interviews, corporate deposition preparation and expert witness work. Ms. Motl is well-versed in eDiscovery and handles almost all aspects of the discovery process for her medical device clients including identification, collection, protective orders, ESI protocols, document review and production of documents. 

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Credit Information

  • An excellent opportunity to earn Ethics CLE credits. Note: BARBRI cannot guarantee that this course will be approved for ethics credits in all states. To confirm, please contact our CLE department at pdservice@barbri.com.

Date + Time

  • event

    Thursday, September 4, 2025

  • schedule

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

I. Welcome and introduction

II. Understanding disability in context

A. What is a disability? Legal definition vs. social model

B. Statistics and representation

C. Systemic barriers and ableism

III. Legal and ethical foundations of professionalism

A. ABA Model Rules

  1. Rule 1.1: Competence (includes understanding client's needs)
  2. Rule 1.4: Communication (including accessible formats)
  3. Rule 1.14: Diminished Capacity
  4. Rule 8.4(g): Prohibiting discrimination

B. Georgia Preamble

  1. Respect for the dignity of all persons
  2. Lawyers as guardians of fairness, justice, and integrity

IV. Professional cultural challenges

A. Law firm pressures (billable hours, visibility bias)

B. Workplace inclusion - design for everyone

C. Examples: bar exam access, virtual CLE captioning, courthouse/incarceration navigation

V. Five approaches: real world tools for ethical and inclusive behavior

A. Normalize asking about access: don't assume; respectfully ask what's needed

B. Use inclusive language: be person-centered and respectful

C. Design for everyone: caption meetings, use readable materials, avoid jargon

D. Challenge assumptions: confront unconscious bias and redefine "professionalism"

E. Hire and promote inclusively: prioritize accessibility in recruitment and leadership

VI. Practical accessibility a closing reflections

VII. Final takeaway: inclusion is a professional competency, not an optional courtesy

The course will review these and other key issues:

  • Understand the definition and scope of disability in both social and legal contexts
  • Recognize systemic and attitudinal barriers
  • Increase familiarity with ABA Model Rules and Aspirational Statements on Professionalism and how it applies to disability inclusion and the lawyer's duties
  • Gain actionable strategies for accessible practice in compliance to ADA requirements and professional obligations
  • Prioritize effective communication to enable professional interactions with people who have disabilities