Disabilities Rights Center

Richard Cohen, Executive Director
James Fox, Staff Attorney
Julia Freeman-Woolpert, Outreach Advocacy Director
Aaron Ginsberg, Staff Attorney
Rosemary Larkowich, Intake Coordinator
Courtney Lockwood, Intake Attorney
Amy Messer, Legal Director
Adrienne Mallinson, Staff Attorney
Danielle Portal, Intake Attorney
Cindy Robertson, Staff Attorney
Karen Rosenberg, Staff Attorney
Michael K. Skibbie, Policy Specialist
Rebecca Whitley, Staff Attorney
Lynne Zygmont, Supervising Intake Attorney

Richard Cohen, Executive Director back to top

Richard Cohen has been DRC’s Executive Director since 2002. In addition to his director duties, he performs a policy role by working with consumers, families, legislators, other government officials, and disability and advocacy groups in seeking systemic solutions to problems faced by individuals with disabilities. Dick also consults and conducts reviews in other states in the provision of legal and protective services to adults with disabilities. 

Dick received a B.A. in government from Boston University and a law degree from Boston College Law School. In 2009, Dick was awarded the Daniel Holland Life Time Achievement Award by the B.C. Law School Alumni Association  for his accomplishments as a disabilities rights advocate.

Dick began his legal career in legal services, spending 11 years in the Keene and Concord offices of New Hampshire Legal Assistance. Among the cases he litigated at NHLA were Laaman vs. Helgemoe and Garrity vs. Gallen. Laaman resulted in a sweeping order by the late Judge Hugh Bownes requiring major improvements in conditions, educational, vocational medical, mental health and other services and programs at the New Hampshire State Prison as well as the abolishment of solitary confinement. Garrity, or the Laconia State School suit, was recently given the distinction by New Hampshire Magazine as one of the two most important class action law suits in New Hampshire’s history. Dick was lead trial counsel in a nearly 3 month trial which led to a landmark order by the late Judge Shane Devine requiring, among other things, that the state establish the Area Agency community service system and ensure that local school districts assume educational responsibility for children placed at Laconia. The case ultimately led to the closure of the state school, making New Hampshire the first state in the union to run a virtually institution free system of services for persons with developmental disabilities.

Dick left New Hampshire in 1984, and received two successive appointments as a court monitor to oversee compliance in two disability class action cases, one in Minnesota involving six institutions and the other a special education case involving the Boston Public Schools. He subsequently served in state government in Massachusetts for six years, principally in the position of Director of Investigations for the Department of Mental Retardation.

Dick has served on numerous boards and commissions in New Hampshire affecting individuals with disabilities, including in 2005 as Governor Lynch’s appointed chair of the Governor's Commission on Area Agencies which studied and made a number of recommendations to improve the services to individuals served by the Area Agency system.  From 1998-2003 Dick was a member of the Oversight Panel monitoring NH DCYF's compliance with the Eric L. Settlement Agreement requiring changes to the agency's child protection responsibilities.

In 2003, he published a chapter on Best Practices in Abuse and Neglect Reporting and Investigations, Quality Enhancement in Developmental Disabilities. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing (2003). Read about Dick in the NH Challenge fall 2002 edition (page 9), and NH Challenge winter 2003 edition (page 8).

James Fox, Staff Attorney back to top

James Fox joined the DRC in 2004.  He handles matters involving federal anti-discrimination statues (Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973), healthcare rights, voting rights, and access to assistive technology.  He began his career as an law clerk in the New Hampshire Superior Court.  He subsequently practiced in Devine, Millimet & Branch’s trial department where he handled a wide variety of matters but specialized in insurance coverage law.

James graduated from the University of Miami in 1993 with a B.S. He earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1996.  While at Boston University, James was a member of the Boston University Public Interest Law Journal and assisted individuals through his work with the Boston University Civil Practice Clinic.  He currently serves on the New Hampshire Statewide Independent Living Council

Julia Freeman-Woolpert, Outreach Advocacy Director back to top

Julia Freeman-Woolpert is the Outreach Advocacy Director at the DRC, and handles the website, newsletter, outreach to the public, and a variety of other projects related to education and advocacy. From 1985 to 2000, Julia was a Case Advocate at the DRC. After a three year absence, she returned in 2003. She serves on the Medical Interpretation Advisory Board (MIAB) of the Foundation for Health Communities. Julia currently serves on the Legislative Commission to Study the Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury Suffered by US Soldiers and Veterans Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. She is a former member of the Consumer Education and Self Advocacy Committee of the National Disability Rights Network and the Full Participation Work Group of the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators.

From 2000 to 2003, Julia was the Coordinator for Project RESPONSE, a three-year project funded through a Federal grant to improve the state’s capacity to evaluate and manage neurobehavioral consequences of traumatic brain injury. Before joining the DRC in 1985, Julia worked in several coordinator and supervisor roles in vocational and residential programs for individuals with developmental disabilities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.

Julia received a M.Ed. in Organization and Management in 1983 from Antioch/New England Graduate School, and a B.A. in Sociology from Boston University in 1975. She is a member of the NH Civil Liberties Union, the American Friends Service Committee, the Brain Injury Association of NH, and Amnesty International.

Aaron Ginsberg, Staff Attorney back to top

Aaron Ginsberg joined the DRC staff in 2007 after graduating from the University of Chicago law School.  Aaron earned an undergraduate degree from Knox College in history in 2001.  Aaron is admitted to practice in New Hampshire and Illinois.  Aaron’s legal experience includes legislative advocacy for mental health law reform and advocacy for reformation of administration of electroconvulsive therapy while with the Mental Health Project of the University of Chicago’s Mandel Legal Aid Clinic.  He also has experience as a mobility instructor, teaching individuals with cognitive impairments to use public transportation. .

Rosemary Larkowich, Intake Coordinator back to top

Rosemary Larkowich is the DRC Intake Coordinator and has been with the DRC since 1984, longer than any other employee. When you call with a problem related to a disability and get an appointment to speak with someone, chances are good it will be Rosemary.

Prior to working at the DRC, Rosemary worked as a legal secretary at two private law firms in New Hampshire. Rosemary holds an Associate’s degree from Mt. Ida College. In her tenure at the DRC, she has been involved in many trainings through the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) on intake and referral services, cultural awareness, and database design and management.

Courtney Lockwood, Intake Attorneyback to top

Courtney Lockwood joined the DRC as a staff attorney in 2005. Courtney was formerly a Legal Aid Attorney at Pine Tree Legal Assistance in rural Maine. In that position, she practiced in the areas of Medicaid and other public benefits, housing, domestic violence, consumer law, and guardian ad litem work. She is a 2002 graduate of Vermont Law School and holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell University. She served as Head Notes Editor of the Vermont Law Review and was an officer of the Equal Justice Foundation during law school. In addition to human rights and justice, she has experience in environmental law. Courtney served as a law clerk for Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund in Hawaii and as a legal intern for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Adrienne Mallinson, Staff Attorney back to top

Adrienne Mallinson joined the DRC as a staff attorney in 2005 after receiving her J.D., cum laude, from Boston College Law School. While in law school, she worked at the DRC as an intern, and at Boston College’s Legal Assistance Bureau. She also served as Senior Articles Editor for the Third World Law Journal. Adrienne attended the University of Oxford, England, receiving a B.A. in History in 1992. Before law school, she was an editor and program administrator in the education and healthcare fields. Adrienne has lived in the Seacoast area for more than a decade, where she has been an active volunteer in the mental health field, and plays the violin with the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra. She serves on the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council and on the board of ABLE-NH.

Amy Messer, Legal Director back to top

Amy Messer, Legal Director, has been an attorney with the DRC since 1999. Amy handles systemic litigation and impact cases and projects as well as individual representation. As Legal Director, she also provides support and supervision to staff attorneys at the DRC. Her practice includes litigation in state and federal court, as well as appellate work in the New Hampshire Supreme Court and the US First Circuit Court of Appeals. She has also been involved in extensive policy advocacy in medical services for children with severe disabilities and medical services for adult prisoners.

Amy received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1991. She was admitted to the NH Bar in 1991. Upon graduation she joined the New Hampshire Public Defender (NHPD) where she represented juveniles and adults accused in felony, misdemeanor, and delinquency cases for eight years, and was managing attorney of the Manchester office. In 1997, she became the Assistant Director of NHPD’s statewide program. She is a member of the legal panel of the NH Civil Liberties Union and a member of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire. Her practice encompasses most areas of disability law including special education, Medicaid, employment discrimination and denial of services to persons with mental illness and developmental disabilities.

Danielle Portal, Staff Attorney back to top

Danielle was hired into the position of intake attorney in 2008 and is admitted in New Hampshire. She is a recent graduate of Franklin Pierce Law Center, where she was a member of the American Constitutional Society, Phi Alpha Delta, and the Public Interest Coalition. She also has a Master's in social work from Boston College. Her legal internships included work at the NH Department of Children, Youth and Families and the NH Department of Safety.

Cindy Robertson, Senior Staff Attorney back to top

Cindy joined the DRC after many years in private litigation practice, most recently at Devine, Millimet & Branch as a Partner in the litigation department. Cindy is a 1984 graduate of Franklin Pierce Law Center and is admitted in New Hampshire, Maryland, the Federal District Court for the State of New Hampshire, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a member of the Mental and Physical Disabilities Committee of the NH Bar Association. In 1992, she received the President’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession. She is a member of the Medical Care Advisory Committee and the Elder Rights Coalition. She works with the Office of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Behavioral Health in statewide empowerment presentations to individuals with mental health issues. Her many community activities have included serving on the Hooksett Conservation Commission.

Karen Rosenberg, Staff Attorney back to top

Karen Rosenberg joined the staff of the DRC in 2005 as a staff attorney. She is a 1988 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law. Earlier she received a BS in Psychology from Tufts University. Karen is admitted to the bars of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and to the US District Courts for New Hampshire and Massachusetts. She currently serves on the Lawyers Assistance Committee of the New Hampshire Bar Association.

Karen comes to us after many years as a staff attorney and project director at New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA), where she specialized in Health, Housing and Consumer laws. She was counsel for plaintiffs in Hawkins v. Commissioner, a federal class action to improve access to dental care for children enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. She also directed NHLA’s Fair Housing Project and the Housing Preservation Project during her tenure at NHLA.

Karen is active in her community of Manchester. She volunteers in the Manchester schools and community groups and has served as a member of the Palace Theatre’s Annual Spring Gala Planning Committee. She is a member of the Makin’ It Happen Coalition’s Drop-out Prevention Workgroup. She is the former Chair of the Board of the New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition, the Alliance for the Progress of Hispanic Americans, a former Board member of the Latin American Center, and a past member of the NH Regional Community Development Corporation Board of Directors.

Michael K. Skibbie, Policy Specialist back to top

Michael Skibbie joined the DRC in 2004 as the Policy Specialist and will be working with staff, constituents and other organizations on policy and legislative issues of importance to people with disabilities. Mike is a 1984 graduate of Franklin Pierce Law Center, J.D., and holds a B.A. degree from the University of Vermont.

Mike has just left a position as Research Associate Professor of Political Science and Co-Coordinator of the Justice, Law & Society Project at Justiceworks, University of New Hampshire. Mike’s UNH activities included research and program development in the area of juvenile justice and children with disabilities.

For many years, Mike handled criminal cases in a variety of roles for the NH Public Defender’s office, culminating as head of the statewide program from 1992 to 2001. He has worked extensively with court-involved youth and adults with disabilities, and has been involved in a number of legislative and interagency efforts to improve the justice system.

Mike is a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Committee on Delivery of Legal Services and the Board of Directors of the New England Juvenile Defender Center. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the NH Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Executive Committee of the NLADA American Council of Chief Defenders, and the American Bar Association Defense Services Committee.

This summer, Mike spent two months back in criminal court, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He worked with Afghani lawyers as part of a project of the International Legal Foundation focused on the establishment of a public defender system in Kabul and throughout the country. See the 6-29-04 Concord Monitor article about Mike's trip to Afghanistan.

Rebecca Whitley, Staff Attorney back to top

Rebecca Whitley joined the DRC as a staff attorney in 2007. She is a graduate of Vermont Law School, and holds an undergraduate degree from George Washington University. Rebecca is admitted to the Bar in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. During law school, her legal internships included the South Royalton Legal Clinic, the Children’s Program of the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, and the New Hampshire Superior Court. Rebecca represents adults and children on a range of issues; participates in DRC’s policy advocacy; and has conducted and reported on a number of abuse and neglect investigations. She is currently working on an investigation of the conditions at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester.

Lynne Zygmont, Supervising Intake Attorney back to top

Lynne Zygmont, Supervising Intake Attorney, graduated from Rhode Island College in 1982 with a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, in Communications and Psychology. She received her JD degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1989 cum laude. She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1989 and the New Hampshire Bar in 1991.

Lynne has been an attorney with the Disabilities Rights Center since 1991. As the Supervising Intake Attorney, she leads and supervises the intake team, including staff attorneys and law students. Her many years of experience have given her knowledge in many substantive areas of disability practice, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Juvenile Law, Social Security, Housing and Medicaid. Lynne is also DRC’s Section 504/ADA compliance coordinator.

Lynne is an adjunct faculty member at Middlesex Community College, where she teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Evidence and Court Procedures and Criminal Law.

Last Updated: November 10, 2009