Our Team

Aviance Brown

Aviance’s passion for truth-telling led her to become a zealous advocate for civil rights.

She received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UNC-Charlotte, and transitioned directly into law school at North Carolina Central University School of Law where she obtained her Juris Doctorate degree. As a movement lawyer, Aviance has advocated for systemic criminal justice and prison reform. She has done extensive research on the ways in which the criminal legal system preys on communities of color by issuing punitive, excessive and arbitrary court fines and fees both pre and post-conviction.

She has represented clients at the trial and appellate level advocating for the protection of voting rights for communities of color. As an adjunct law professor, Aviance trains future lawyers on the intersection of race and the criminal legal system and implores her students to imagine a true justice system through restorative justice. She believes that one of the most essential traits of a good lawyer is to do deep intrinsic listening to understand communities’ needs. Aviance enjoys crafting and baking with her husband and son.

Lauren Deutsch, Esq.

Lauren Deutsch, Esq. (she/ella) is an attorney, and activist, living in Rochester New York with her spouse and three children. Lauren received her Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in 2001, and worked in migrant community health in San Diego, California, prior to law school. She graduated with her Juris Doctor from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2008, and began her legal career in New York City as a Postgraduate Domestic Violence Fellow, before joining the Domestic Violence unit at The Legal Aid Society of Rochester in 2010. She became the Executive Director of a Rochester area reproductive justice organization in 2014, and in 2018 became the Executive Director of a New York statewide non-profit legal services and advocacy organization dedicated to labor justice for migrant farm workers. Lauren’s research interests include racial inequities in legal outcomes, effective social services access for people living with trauma, bruising injuries in victims of color, and the impact of poverty on health equity. Lauren is thrilled to have joined Disability Law United in 2022, and to be working in Disability Justice to build a powerful and inclusive future.

Ana Diaz

Ana (she/her) brings the values of service, support and stewardship to her work in administration and operations at Disability Law United. She has been with Disability Law United in various roles since 2018 and is passionate about helping Disability Law United advance its mission by keeping things running smoothly behind the scenes. When not working, Ana enjoys reading, hiking, or cuddling with her dogs.

Albert Elia

Al is and has been an attorney, advocate, consultant, educator, and technologist over his more-than twenty-five year career. He fights vigorously to ensure that people with disabilities receive needed accommodations. He has advocated on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind and its members to make sure they have access to technology and other aspects of life in the world and online. He has consulted for the media, businesses, and governments on current and proposed disability-access obligations and best-practices. He has also presented online and given guest lectures on technology access and the law.

As a board member of the National Association of Guide Dog users, Al is a fierce advocate for the right of service-animal users to be accompanied by their service animals wherever their travels may take them. He also holds leadership positions in the Disability Rights Bar Association, the National Association of Blind Lawyers, and the National Federation of the Blind.

For more than seven years, Al has been a litigator primarily representing individuals with disabilities. He began his legal career as the Disability Rights Litigation Fellow at Brown Goldstein & Levy, LLP, and then joined the TRE Legal Practice where he was an attorney before moving to Brooklyn and joining Disability Law United. Prior to that, Al clerked as an intern for the Honorable Timothy S. Hillman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

During law school, Al worked in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Civil Division. He also worked for the Centre for Disability Law and Policy in Galway, Ireland, where he assisted an international disability rights advocacy group in comparing the development of technology access law in the United States and the European Union.

Before law school, Al had a successful career as a consultant and software developer. He served as a senior technical consultant at KPMG in The Hague, Netherlands, then returned to the United States to direct the development of patient-care and other software products for a medical research company. After that and throughout law school, he assisted the Director of Intellectual Property at Harvard Business School Publishing in developing and teaching a Harvard intellectual property course.

Education

• Northeastern University School of Law, J.D., 2014
• Harvard University, A.B., 1996

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New York
• Washington
• United States District Courts for the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Western Washington Districts
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Fourth and D.C. Circuits

Nora Fogarty

Nora Fogarty (she/her/hers) has worked in philanthropic and political fundraising and communications for well over a decade, including 9 years as a director of development for advocacy and movement organizations, fighting for access to justice and resources for the public. She has led individual giving program efforts to raise three-quarters of a million dollars annually, including gifts of 4-, 5- and 6-figures. She has also conducted fundraising trainings for board and leadership candidates, and spearheaded publications and transparency initiatives in past roles. Nora’s passion lies in building a better, more compassionate and dignified society for all through the power of storytelling, and a longtime love of language makes her a more effective communicator in her advocacy work.

Nora joined the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association in 2016, after several years spent honing her skills in nonprofit management, marketing and communications roles. As OTLA’s Development Director, she headed up fundraising, from recruiting members and major donors and organizing publications and major events, to bringing on new sponsors and partner organizations, and most importantly, working with an incredible team to fight for access to civil justice for Oregonians.

After 7 years with OTLA, Nora transitioned into a new role as Development Director with OneAmerica and OneAmerica Votes, an immigrant and refugee power-building organization in Washington state, where she led fundraising strategy and organized both people and money for a 501(c)3, 501(c)4 and two political action committees.

Nora is delighted to have joined DLU in 2024, and looks forward to communicating the powerful stories, hopes, and needs of those affected by unequal access or care in our society to donors, funders and the public, through the lens of intersectional disability justice. 

Outside of the office, Nora teaches traditional Irish dancing to students of all ages, and enjoys devouring science fiction and mystery novels, testing new recipes, and making plans for future travels with her family. She grew up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and now lives in Portland, Oregon with her spouse and their very adorable rescue dog.

Alicia Laurel

Alicia Laurel (she/her/ella) is a wife and mother of three amazing young adults, one with a disability.  She was born and raised in Laredo, TX, and is proud of being first generation Mexican American.  Alicia began her legal career in August 2005 and received her paralegal certification in 2018 from the Texas A&M International University. She has worked as a Paralegal in both private law firms and government agencies, and is passionate about helping people and making a difference.

Laura Murchie

Cynthia L. Rice

Cynthia L. Rice was born and raised in Colorado where most of her immediate family still lives She received her B.A. from the University of Colorado in 1976 and moved to California to attend law school at Santa Clara University School of Law, where she received her J.D. in 1979. She was admitted to the California Bar in 1979 and to the Hawaii Bar in 1995.

Ms. Rice has specialized in Labor and Employment rights and Education Advocacy in private practice and as a legal aid attorney for Community Legal Services (now Legal Services of Santa Clara County) Marin County Legal Aid and CRLA. Most recently she served as a Director of Litigation, Advocacy and Training for California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and a part-time project director for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation Labor and Civil Rights Litigation Project.

Rice has represented hundreds of workers in administrative and court proceedings involving labor and employment rights. Her work in education focuses on advocacy on behalf of English Learners, Migrant students and students of color, and has resulted in landmark settlements compelling school districts to affirmatively address discriminatory discipline policies. Additionally, she has successfully litigated cases against a variety of state agencies, including the California Department of Education, California’s Unemployment Insurance agencies: the California Employment Development Department and the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, and the California Labor Commissioner.

She has appeared before the California Supreme Court on behalf of claimants before the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the Labor Commissioner. She has testified before various legislative committees and administrative boards, and provided technical assistance to lobbyists and legislators on a variety of education, civil rights and labor bills including California’s Labor Law Private Attorney General Act (PAGA), and SB 1818 which provided protections for immigrants under Labor Code § 1171.5 and related sections.

Rice has been actively involved in developing litigation strategies under state and federal laws for the enforcement of education, labor and employment and civil rights for California low wage families since 1979.

Kate Thorstad

Kate (she/ella) began her legal career as a Staff Attorney and Justice Catalyst Fellow at Orleans Public Defenders. She came to Disability Law United after working as an Equal Justice Works Disaster Resilience Fellow at Disability Rights Louisiana. She is particularly passionate about work at the intersection of disability, disaster, and Environmental Justice. As a member of the American Bar Association’s Disaster Legal Services Team, she works to address inequities in disaster preparedness and response through a disability justice lens. Her other areas of interest include the political economies of health and caregiving. She earned her B.A. from Dartmouth College and her J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Outside of work, Kate is a naturalist and urban gardener with a passion for food justice as a means of community resilience. She is admitted to practice in Louisiana, where she spends as much time outside as possible.