Dept. of Justice HIV expert becomes new CHLP Co-Director
Allison Nichol, a nationally recognized expert on federal disability antidiscrimination law, joined The Center for HIV Law and Policy in September 2015 to become CHLP's first Co-Director.
Allison will work with Executive Director Catherine Hanssens in managing CHLP’s programmatic and financial strategic planning and development. She will be based in Washington, D.C and will take the lead on CHLP's federal policy initiatives.
Allison served the Department of Justice with the highest distinction for the past twenty-one years. She was the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division where she oversaw litigation, policy, regulatory and technical assistance development related to the Americans with Disabilities Act and served as counsel in Bragdon v. Abbott, the first case under the ADA dealing with HIV discrimination to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. She was a founder and long-time member of the Division’s GLBTQI Working Group and was a 2002 recipient from DOJ Pride of the James R. Douglas Award for her work on behalf of those with HIV. In 2012 she became Special Counsel for Disability Resources in the Office of the Associate Attorney General, where she was in charge of efforts to increase the hiring, retention and accommodation of individuals with disabilities within the Department.
In 2012 Nichol received the Attorney General’s Award for Equal Employment Opportunity, the Department’s highest award for performance in support of it’s Equal Employment Opportunity program. She was the Department’s long-time expert on HIV law and policy and represented DOJ on the federal working group charged with implementation of the National Strategy on HIV/AIDS, and on the federal working group on the Intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence against Women and Girls and Gender-Related Health Disparities. She is the author of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Best Practices Guide to Reform HIV-Specific Criminal Laws to Align with Scientifically-Supported Factors and the co-author of Prevalence and Public Health Implications of State Laws that Criminalize Potential HIV Exposure in the United States. Earlier in her career, Nichol was a state prosecutor of child and sexual abuse crimes.
"Allison is a brilliant lawyer with unique, extraordinary experience and a decades-long commitment to advancing the rights of people living with HIV. She is a sought-after speaker on a wide range of disability rights issues, and a persistent visionary with real compassion for the communities we serve,” said Catherine Hanssens, Executive Director and founder of The Center for HIV Law and Policy. “We are extraordinarily lucky to have her as a leading member of our team.”
“It is an honor to be part of this premier organization and their many allies and partners. The Center for HIV Law and Policy’s inspired policy analysis and use of the law is informed by a unique vision and a real passion for justice,” said Allison. “I admire CHLP’s focus on communities that frequently are overlooked, and look forward to bringing my decades of experience in federal disability antidiscrimination law to advance CHLP’s national advocacy agenda.”
In addition to Allison and Catherine, CHLP's legal and policy team includes Mayo Schreiber, Jr., CHLP's Deputy Director, who has more than 25 years of criminal defense experience and several years experience as a judicial pro se clerk handling prisoner conditions complaints; and Juanluis (Pepis) Rodriquez, a recent graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Vice President of Georgetown’s Law Students for Reproductive Justice, and interned at CHLP in 2014 as well as at Amara Legal Center in Washington, DC; Georgetown’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic in Kenya, and Legal Aid South Africa in Johannesburg.