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Robert�� Dinerstein is professor of law emeritus at �鶹��ý Washington�� College of Law (AUWCL), where he taught from 1983-2023.�� He founded and directed the law school’s�� Disability Rights Law Clinic from 2005-2023.�� He also has served as the law school’s acting dean (2020-21), associate�� dean for academic affairs (1997-2004), associate dean for experiential�� education (2012-2018), director of the clinical program (1988-96 and�� 2008-2018), and director of the Criminal Justice Clinic (1988-1996). He specializes�� in the fields of clinical legal education and disability law, especially mental�� disabilities law (including issues of consent/choice, capacity, and�� alternatives to guardianship, including supported decision making), the�� �鶹��ýs with Disabilities Act, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons�� with Disabilities, legal representation of clients with mental disabilities,�� and disability and international human rights.��

�� Dinerstein�� has made numerous presentations on clinical legal education and disability law,�� among other topics, and has published a number of books, articles, chapters and�� other writing on these subjects.

�� He�� is the author/editor of two books. He is co-editor and co-author, with the late�� Stanley Herr and Joan O’Sullivan, of A Guide to Consent (AAMR, 1999). He is�� co-author, with the late Stephen Ellmann, Isabelle Gunning, Kate Kruse and Ann�� Shalleck, of Lawyers and Clients: Critical Issues in Interviewing and�� Counseling (Thomson West 2009) and the accompanying Teacher’s Manual.

�� Among�� Dinerstein’s recent publications in the disability law area, he is the author�� of:

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• “Implementing�� Legal Capacity Under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons�� with Disabilities: The Difficult Road from Guardianship to Supported�� Decision-Making” (Human Rights Brief, 2012);

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• “Emerging�� International Practices in Guardianship Law for People with Disabilities,” 22�� ILSA J. Int’l & Comp. L. 435 (Winter 2016)(with Martinis & Grewal);

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• “T��� Olmstead Imperative: The Right to Live�� in the Community and Beyond,” 4 (1) Inclusion 16 (Winter 2016);

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• “Supportive Decision Making as an Alternative�� to Guardianship,” National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) 14�� (2) Frontline Initiative (2017)—Published by University of Minnesota, Research�� and Training Center on Community Living (RTC), Institute in Community�� Integration, ;

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• “Tales�� from a Supportive Guardianship,” 53(2) Court Review: The Journal of the�� �鶹��ý Judges Association 74 (2017);

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• “Supported Decision-Making for People with Disabilities: International�� Origins and Influences,” 42 (3) TASH Connections 15-18 (Fall 2017);

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• “Using�� the ADA’s ‘Integration Mandate’ to Disrupt Mass Incarceration” (with Shira�� Wakschlag),96(4) Denver Law Review 915 (2019);

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• “Guardianships�� vs. Special Needs Trusts and Other Protective Arrangements: Ensuring Judicial�� Accountability and Beneficiary Autonomy”(with�� A. Frank Johns & Patricia Kefalas Dudek), 72 Syracuse L. Rev. 423-468 (2022);

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• Stephanie Meredith, Kara Ayers, Marsha�� Michie, Mark W. Leach, & Robert D. Dinerstein, “Impact of the Dobbs�� Decision on Prenatal Disability Education and Support,” 7 HELEN: The Journal of�� Human Exceptionality, journal of �鶹��ý Academy�� of Developmental Medicine & Dentistry (AADMD) 26 (December 2022), available�� at�� ;

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• Robert�� Dinerstein, Deborah Enix-Ross, Nina Kohn & Ellie Lanier,” Modern Laws and�� Out-of–Court Solutions Can Advance Guardianship,” Bloomberg Law News, March 9.�� 2023 [part of multi-part investigation of adult guardianship], available at ;

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• “Representing Clients with Diminished�� Capacity: Challenges and Opportunities,” 40 (4) GPSolo Magazine, �鶹��ý Bar�� Association, Solo, Small Firm, and General Practice Division, July/August 2023;

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• Covid-19�� and the Rights of People with Disabilities, Chapter�� 8, pp. 117-29, in Claire L. Parins, ed., The�� Legal and Social Ramifications of Pandemics on Civil Rights and Civil�� Liberties, ABA Civil Rights and Social Justice Section (ABA, 2023)

In�� the area of legal education and lawyering, he has�� written extensively on issues of clinical pedagogy and lawyering, in�� particular, client-centered counseling, especially in his article,�� “Client-Centered Counseling: Reappraisal and Refinement,” 32 Arizona L. Rev.�� 501 (1990) and in Chapter 3 of Lawyers and Clients, above. His recent articles�� include

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• “New Wine and New Bottles (on experiential legal education),”��44��Syllabus�� 2��(Winter 2012-13), Publication of ABA Section on Legal Education and�� Admissions to the Bar;����

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• Co-author (with Margaret Barry, Phyllis Goldfarb, Peggy Maisel�� and Linda Morton) “Exploring the Meaning of Experiential Deaning,” 67(3)�� Journal of Legal Education 660 (2018);

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• ‘The Clinical Law Review at 25: What Hath We Wrought?, 26(1) Clinical�� Law Review 147 (2019) (25th Anniversary Symposium Issue);

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• Robert D. Dinerstein, Elliott S.�� Milstein, and Ann C. Shalleck, Fifty�� Years of Clinical Legal Education at �鶹��ý Washington College of�� Law:�� The Evolution of a Movement in�� Theory, Practice, and People, 31�� AU J. Gender, Soc Pol’y & L.,�� 257-309 (2023).

From�� 1994-2001, Dinerstein served on the President's Committee on People with�� Intellectual Disabilities. He has been an expert witness in several disability�� law cases and was appointed a special hearing officer in Virginia Dep’t of Education v. Riley (4th Cir. 1996), a�� case involving the federal government’s proposed withholding of IDEA funds for�� Virginia’s alleged non-compliance with the statute. He chairs the ABA�� Commission on Disability Rights (2022-present) and was a member of the�� Commission from 2018-21.�� He is co-chair�� of the ABA Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice’s Disability�� Rights Committee. He is involved in several working groups within the�� section, including one on reform of guardianship laws and one on proposed�� revisions to Model Rule 1.14, Representing Clients with Diminished Capacity.

�� Internationally,�� he has consulted for the World Health Organization and the Open Society�� Foundations regarding the revision of mental health laws and was a signatory to�� the Montreal Declaration on Intellectual Disabilities, adopted in Montreal,�� Canada in October 2004. He also has consulted with the Open Society Foundations�� regarding disability rights clinics and disability rights curricula in Latin�� America and Southern Africa and was the principal investigator for the�� Disability and Human Rights Fellows program sponsored by the Open Society�� Foundations. For many years he has taught a class on the right to legal capacity�� and supported decision making in the University of Pretoria Centre for Human�� Rights Advanced Human Rights Course on Disability Rights in an African context.

�� Domestically,�� Dinerstein has consulted for the Ford�� Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation and the US Department of Health and Human�� Services and the US Department of Education on issues related to legal�� services, disability law and poverty law. Prior to joining AUWCL,�� Dinerstein worked as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil�� Rights Division, Special Litigation Section, where he handled federal court�� cases on the rights of people in institutions for people with psychosocial�� disabilities, people with intellectual disabilities and juveniles. He has�� written and presented on the US Department of Justice’s record of enforcement�� of the rights of persons with disabilities under several administrations.

�� Dinerstein�� is actively involved in organizations related to legal education nationally. He�� was a member (elected) of the Council of the �鶹��ý Bar Association Section�� on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (2006-2011), and previously was on�� the section’s Standards Review Committee, where he was vice chair. He has been�� a member of 17 ABA-AALS joint site inspection teams, chairing four teams.�� Within the Association of �鶹��ý Law Schools, he was a member of the�� membership review committee and has, among other things, chaired the sections�� on clinical legal education, law and community, disability law and law and�� mental disability law, as well as the committees on clinical legal education,�� sections and the annual meeting, and the planning committee for the 2006�� clinical teachers’ conference. He has been a member of a number of other�� planning committees, including for the AALS New Teachers’ Conference.

�� Dinerstein�� chairs the board of directors of the Equal Rights Center, and in the past has�� served on the boards of the New Hope Community, Inc. (chair, 2022-23), Quality�� Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, Inc. (founding board member &�� president, 2001-2016), Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Inc. (founding�� board member and long-term treasurer, 1986-2015), Advocates for Justice and�� Education (treasurer), the District of Columbia Bar Board of Governors�� (elected; 2002-05), Society of �鶹��ý Law Teachers (elected), Disability�� Rights International (founding board member), Legal Counsel for the Elderly,�� and the Maryland Disability Law Center. He also was a founding member of the�� steering committee for the Jacobus tenBroek annual disability law symposium�� sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind, on which he served until 2019,�� and continues to present frequently at its symposia.

Among�� his many awards and honors, he was recognized as “Advocate, Leader, Change Agent” for years�� of service as board chair for Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities,�� August 27, 2023 [“Quality Trust is proud and honored to have had you govern and�� lead this organization as Board President in 2002.�� You have been an Ambassador of our mission�� and vision and we acknowledge the difference you have made for Quality Trust�� and people with developmental disabilities”]. He has received the WCL�� Outstanding Service Award (2017-18); been named a Fellow of the �鶹��ý�� Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (2016) and received�� the Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights (ABA, 2013); (with Ann Shalleck)�� the Egon Guttman Casebook Award (2011-12) for Lawyers and Clients; the William�� Pincus Award for his contributions to clinical legal education (2010); �鶹��ý�� University Awards for Scholar-Teacher of the Year (2013), Outstanding Teaching�� in a Full-Time Appointment (2009) and Faculty-Administrator Award for�� Outstanding Service to the University Community (2002); and the Pro Bono�� Service Award from the International Human Rights Law Group (1988).

�� Dinerstein�� is regularly called upon by media outlets to comment on disability rights and�� legal education issues, among other areas.

�� He�� has an A.B. degree from Cornell University and a J.D. degree from Yale Law�� School.