Partnering with Protection & Advocacy Offices in Police Accountability Cases

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Protection and advocacy (P&A) offices can be valuable partners in police accountability cases involving people with disabilities. This CLE will explore how civil rights attorneys can collaborate with P&A offices to investigate claims, access records, develop evidence, and better support clients. Participants will learn practical strategies for building partnerships that strengthen their cases and improve outcomes for clients harmed by law enforcement.

ABOUT the SPEAKER(S)

Jessica Gingold (she/her) is a Senior Counsel in the Chicago Office of the MacArthur Justice Center. She focuses on prisons and law enforcement misconduct.

Jessica began her career as a Prettyman Fellow in Washington D.C. where she represented young people and adults accused of crimes in D.C. Superior Court. Since then, in Chicago, she continued her work in holistic criminal defense before joining Equip for Equality where she worked in disability, education and civil rights. She has her law degree from University of Michigan, a master’s degree in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, a master’s degree in advocacy from Georgetown Law Center, and her undergraduate degree from Colorado College. Prior to graduate school, Jessica worked in youth civic engagement.

Jessica was a former competitive figure skater who now loves watching ice skating and spends most of her free time chasing around her two young sons and building community in Chicago.

Brian East graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1977. He worked at legal aid for two years, and in private practice for 14 years, before joining Disability Rights Texas (formerly known as Advocacy, Inc.), which is a non-profit corporation advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. 

Brian is a member of the State Bar of Texas, and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the federal Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, and in the district court for the Districts of Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, and the Western, Northern, Eastern, and Southern Districts of Texas. Brian has handled a number of disability-discrimination and disability-rights cases in state and federal court. He has also written and lectured extensively on these issues, including for the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, UT Law CLE, the Fifth Circuit Judicial Conference, ALI-ABA, the South Texas College of Law, the National Employment Lawyers Association, the National Disability Rights Network, the National Assistive Technology Project, and various state and local bar associations. 

Brian is a past Board member of both the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and the Texas Employment Lawyers Association (TELA), and a past Chair of NELA’s Disability Rights Group. He has also served on the Legal Advocacy Subcommittee of the American Diabetes Association, as well as on the legal committees of the National Disability Rights Network and of AIDS Services of Austin. He is the co-author and editor of the chapter on “Workers with Disabilities” in the Employee & Union Member Guide to Labor Law (Thomson/Reuters). Brian has frequently been named as a Texas “SuperLawyer,” and he received the 2003 Excellence in Public Interest award from the Texas Law Fellowships, the 2008 Martha Arbuckle Meritorious Service Award from the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities, the 2011 J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services Award from the State Bar of Texas, and the 2015 Lex Frieden Employment Awards Governor’s Trophy from the Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities. He is a member of the Texas Bar College, a Life Member of the Texas Bar Foundation, and an Adjunct Professor teaching disability law at the University of Texas School of Law.

DATE and TIME

Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at the following time by time zone:

• 11:00am - 12:30pm PST
• 12:00pm - 1:30pm MST
• 1:00pm - 2:30pm CST
• 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST

A NOTE ABOUT TIME ZONES

Any time listed in this registration that does not include a time zone can be assumed to be in Central Standard Time (CST).

ACCREDITATION

This event is accredited for 1.5 general credit hours with the State Bar of California (NPAP is a multiple activity provider with the State Bar of CA).

Most attendees should be able to self-report for CLE credit to their own state bars, and in instances where a state bar requires that the event sponsor report on behalf of attendees, NPAP is happy to assist.

RECORDING

The event will be recorded and the recording will be available to attendees after the event. However, attendees will only be elligible for CLE credit for the portions of the event that they attended live. Retroactive viewing of recordings will not be elligible for CLE credit, as NPAP does not have a means of validating attendee participation in this circumstance.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

NPAP never wants cost to be a barrier to attendance for our programming and we are happy to work with anyone interested in attending to find a means to make the program accessible. If you require financial support, please contact KG at [email protected] for assistance.

ACCESSIBILITY

It is our priority to ensure accessibility for all attendees - please contact KG at [email protected] if you have specific inquiries regarding the virtual experience.