Leadership

AJ Link (he/him) is openly autistic. He received his JD from The George Washington University Law School and his LL.M in Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law. He was the inaugural director of The Center for Air and Space Law Task Force on Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Aerospace and is an adjunct professor of space law at Howard University School of Law.

AJ serves as a research director for the Jus Ad Astra project, the Accessibility Team Lead for AstroAccess, the Space Law and Policy Chair for Black in Astro and is a cofounder of the Palestine Space Institute.

Jordan Berger is a dedicated advocate and disabled lawyer based in Seattle, Washington. She graduated from NYU School of Law, in 2020. Jordan was part of the first group that took the Bar Exam remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, she advocated for equitable conditions for disabled test-takers.

Jordan is a co-founder of the National Disabled Law Students Association and the National Disabled Legal Professionals Association. Currently, she serves as an Associate at Terrell Marshall, where she focuses on plaintiff-side class action litigation. Her previous experience includes serving as a judicial law clerk in the Western District of Washington and working as a Skadden Fellow at the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. 

Lucy Trieshmann (they/she) is a queer, disabled disability justice activist, writer, speaker, and lawyer dedicated to intersectional, community-led change. After becoming Disabled in their final year at the University of Virginia, they decided to pursue law to address the systemic issues facing disabled and other marginalized people. 

As a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar at the NYU School of Law, Lucy interned with the ACLU Human Rights and Disability Rights Programs, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. They also launched the Breaking Point Project, an endeavor amplifying the stories of incarcerated people with disabilities to emphasize the urgency of prison abolition. Following their graduation in 2022, they returned to the ACLU Disability Rights Program, where their work focused on non-police alternatives for people experiencing mental and behavioral health crises.  

Tara is an attorney based in Washington, DC. She graduated from Boston University School of Law in 2020, where she founded BU Law’s affinity group for disabled law students. She is also a co-founder of the National Disabled Law Students Association (NDLSA).   

During law school, Tara served as a Judicial Extern for the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson on the First Circuit Court of Appeals and was the Symposium Editor for the American Journal of Law and Medicine from 2019 to 2020.

She also completed a legal internship focusing on involuntary commitment defense with the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services. Additionally, as part of BU Law’s Compassionate Release Practicum, she advocated for the release of incarcerated individuals with terminal illnesses. 

Tiara Simmons, born and raised in New York, is a lawyer practicing family law and estate planning. She is also a disability activist/advocate in Long Beach, California. Tiara is also a wife, mother, and entrepreneur. While her plan is to become a public defender, Tiara has shifted much of her focus to the rights of disabled parents, anti-ableism, and what is known as ‘medical misogynoir.’

Tiara received her Juris Doctorate in 2018 from Southwestern Law School. There, she became a member of the Trial Advocacy Honors Program, Immigration Clinic, Delta Theta Phi, Law Fraternity, Black Law Student Association, Latino Law Student Association, and the Public Interest Law Committee. She has sat on the executive board of organizations including Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc., Autism in Long Beach, La Mirada Volunteer Center, and National Disabled Legal Professional Association, and Community Heroes. Tiara was also a founding member of The Charter Legal Clinic in Long Beach. Tiara holds a B.A. in Psychology/Spanish, M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction, and a B.S. in Forensic Psychology. 

Rebecca Vallas is the CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Most recently, she was a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, where she pioneered the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative, bringing together nearly 50 leading organizations across the policy/research and disability rights and justice communities to bring a disability lens to economic policymaking. Prior to TCF, she spent several years helping to build and lead the Center for American Progress’s anti-poverty work and launching its disability justice work.

She is also one of the cofounders of the Clean Slate Initiative, a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing automated criminal record-clearance to remove barriers to economic security for the 1 in 3 Americans who now have a record.

Forever a legal aid lawyer at heart, Vallas began her career at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia as a Skadden Fellow in the Aging and Disabilities Unit, where she represented low-income disabled and older people struggling to access critical public benefits. A national leader on social insurance and disability policy, Vallas has authored numerous reports, developed public policies, and been a driving force to advance economic security and opportunity, particularly for people with disabilities.

Marissa is a multiply-disabled activist and attorney. Marissa is a former leader of the National Disabled Law Students Association. She serves full-time as the Disabilities Community Project Staff Attorney at Tzedek DC, a non-profit dedicated to safeguarding the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with low incomes dealing with debt and consumer issues. She is also an adjunct professor at the American University Washington College of Law, where she teaches a seminar on disability rights. Prior to her time at Tzedek DC, she served as the Disability Economic Justice Counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she worked to advance policies that promoted the economic health of disabled women, particularly disabled women of color. Marissa also served as a litigation fellow at the AARP Foundation, where she assisted with legal research on cases involving age discrimination, reverse mortgages, nursing facilities, elder abuse, and other issues facing Americans ages fifty and older.

Marissa’s legal research on issues including disability rights, reproductive justice, and workers’ rights has been featured in publications such as the National Lawyers Guild Review; the Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law; and the UCLA Women’s Law Journal.