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Leonard A. Sandler received his JD from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1981 and has been admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in Maryland, Vermont (inactive) and Iowa. A Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellow, Sandler represents individuals and organizations and advises lawmakers, companies and community organizations. He supervises clinical law projects and lectures extensively on disability, assistive technology, accessibility, housing, universal design and HIV/AIDS issues and has written articles, briefs and best practice materials on these and other subjects.
In 2005, Sandler received one of the first UI President’s Awards for State Outreach and Public Engagement for developing and supervising the Housing Project, a clinical law community economic development and assistive technology project that helped expand housing opportunities for persons with disabilities and other residents of the Hawkeye State. The Housing Project has assisted persons with disabilities and their families to obtain and pay for much-needed modifications and retrofits to their homes through workshops held throughout the state.
The Iowa Commission of Persons with Disabilities honored Sandler with its 2005 Commissioner’s Award to acknowledge his work with public and private sector employers, employees and job seekers. The award noted his efforts to fashion and negotiate workplace accommodations, conduct workshops on tax incentives, disability discrimination, employment laws and other legal issues, perform job site accessibility audits and evaluate and help retrofit Internet sites and pages.
A clinical law disability project supervised by Sandler received the 2005 Distinguished Agency Award from Citizens for People with Disabilities for improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities in the Greater Cedar Rapids area. The award also acknowledges the Student Legal Interns who represent and work collaboratively with Peer Action Disability Support (PADS), a grassroots advocacy and education organization. Their primary focus has been to enhance paratransit and transportation services and to ensure equal access to local businesses and facilities.
In 2003, Sandler received the Isabel Turner Award for Outstanding Contributions to Human Rights from the Iowa City Human Rights Commission. That same year, the Friends of Iowa Civil Rights, Inc., presented him with its award for outstanding contributions to civil rights in Iowa by an individual.
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