Maia Goodell

Of Counsel

For more than fifteen years, Maia has been committed to high quality legal work to give voice to people and organizations fighting for equity. She led disability impact litigation at Disability Rights Advocates and headed the Workplace Justice Project at Mobilization for Justice. Before that, she was a partner at Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, helping employees redress discrimination, receive fair wages, and enforce and negotiate contracts and severance. Before attending law school, Maia was a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy, serving in USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Port Royal. Her military experience informs her passion for the rule of law.

Maia also has experience as a fellow at Equality Now, advocating for women’s human rights, and a litigation associate at Foley Hoag LLP. She clerked for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Maia holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Yale Law School, a J.D. from the University of Michigan (2001) and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Stanford University (1993).

Read more about Disability Rights and Justice.

Maia@KakalecLaw.com
LinkedIn

Representative Cases:

Disability Access

• Physical inaccessibility of the New York City subway system:  argued and defeated motion to dismiss
• Leave policies that discriminated against Stanford University students with mental health disabilities: settlement including new leave policies and monitoring
• Sidewalk barriers for people with mobility and vision disabilities in Philadelphia

Employment:

• Systemic discrimination against veterans with PTSD in employment; obtained EEOC determination of probable cause
• Same-sex sexual harassment of a probation officer: defeated summary judgment motion in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Unpaid overtime and race, sex, and sexual orientation discrimination against retail loss prevention workers: class action settlement of unpaid wages; discrimination damages

News Coverage:

• Judge Tells MTA To Find Money For More Subway Elevators: ‘You Find It For Other Things’ – Gothamist
• Do wheelchairs belong on hiking trails? – San Francisco Chronicle
• FDNY’s Rejection Of Ex-Marine Over Past PTSD is Challenged – The Chief
• Soldiers Blow Up 5 Myths About Women in Combat – Mother Jones