Rebecca Williford

Rebecca Williford is a globally recognized disability community leader and attorney with extensive experience litigating class action lawsuits on behalf of people with disabilities. As President & CEO of Disability Rights Advocates, she leads the organization’s work from its Chicago, New York City, and Berkeley offices.

As a litigator, she has achieved multiple precedents on matters of first impression, advancing the rights of people with disabilities throughout the United States. For example, in Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled v. Bloomberg, she litigated a class action to a successful trial verdict, representing more than 900,000 people with disabilities in a challenge to New York City’s failure to address their needs in its disaster plans.

Rebecca also speaks frequently at legal and disability conferences. She is a Disability Rights Bar Association board member and a member of the National Disabled Legal Professionals Association. She is a co-editor of Lawyers, Lead On: Lawyers with Disabilities Share Their Insights (ABA Press 2011) and a past Commissioner of the ABA Commission on Disability Rights. She also co-founded and served as president of the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities. Her lived experience as a wheelchair-user since adolescence informs and motivates her career.