Kevin W. Williams
Civil Rights Legal Program Director and Attorney Law
Kevin Williams is the Director of the Civil Rights Legal Program for CCDC. In May of 1997, Kevin joined CCDC as counsel for the purpose of assisting CCDC with ensuring that the promises of the ADA and other disability rights civil rights statutes were realized through the use of the legal process designed to protect the rights of people with disabilities and enforce the laws that are designed to ensure that the people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to do what everyone else takes for granted. With the help of CCDC’s members and a very small almost all-volunteer staff, he began building the Legal Program. Kevin litigates in most areas of law protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing Amendments Act, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act and related federal and state laws. Kevin has been active with Colorado and federal legislation impacting people with disabilities, presented at conferences and seminars and has published on the topic of disability rights. Kevin has chaired and been a member of numerous committees and associations of like-minded professionals in the field of disability rights, and he has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work helping those who can’t find or afford lawyers to take their cases to navigate the complexities of the world of disability rights law.
Although Kevin considers the place where he grew up, the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, a great place to be from, he has made Colorado his home for since 1990, coincidentally the same year that the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted. He would not have it any other way. He remains devoted to keeping Colorado one of the best places for people with disabilities to live. Kevin thanks the many champions of disability rights who came before him and he is enormously proud to be a part of the community that will never let us turn the clock back on recognizing the humanity and equality of all people. Since Kevin became a quadriplegic in 1986 and finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado, Denver, before going to law school, he didn’t even realize he was a disability rights advocate until he encountered the hardest working people for people with disabilities ever at CCDC. Kevin graduated with honors, including the prestigious award of the Order of St. Ives, from the University of Denver College of Law in 1996, after having to file a lawsuit regarding innumerable wheelchair accessibility issues he encountered during his matriculation. Suing one’s law school most certainly is a great way to make friends and influence people. The fit between Kevin and CCDC could not have been better. Kevin is very grateful for everything CCDC and all of the national and international disability rights advocates accomplished before his arrival and continue to accomplish today. He also is very grateful to his colleagues, friends and mentors, Tim Fox and Amy Robertson of the law firm Fox & Robertson, P.C., for teaching him how to be a lawyer and what the purpose of things like an interrogatory was. Kevin thanks Disability Law Colorado for the wonderful opportunity to intern under the tutelage of the most punctilious attorney and great friend and colleague, Michael Breeskin, now counsel for AdvocacyDenver’s Center for Special Education Law for the constant reminder that an attorney must proofread Xerox copies of documents just to be sure and for so much more. Although Kevin agrees with the sentiment that applies to many of the efforts of CCDC’s ever-growing staff and membership that sometimes “it takes a village,” he remains saddled with the unfortunate burden that often IT TAKES A LAWSUIT! This, coupled with years of dealing with the slings and arrows of people who still do not treat those with disabilities (a minority group anyone can join at any time as he knows quite well) with equal dignity and respect, propelled Kevin into a lifelong passion for the practice of disability rights enforcement.
Oh yeah. You should know two things about Kevin: He is humorless, and he has a thing for sunsets.