Customer Service Special Education

Terence W. Lindsay

***** ******* ***** 916-***-****

Laurel, MD 20707 *******@*****.***

Summary

An aggressive, assertive Paralegal with a track record of successful client representation. Excellent

research, investigative and reporting skills. Noted for direct representation and willingness to accept cases

that have difficult fact patterns. Exceptional independent judgment and decision making abilities with a

high level of confidentiality. Highly ethical in upholding legal standards. Expertise includes:

• Special Education • Employment Discrimination • Medicaid

• SSI / SSDI • Outreach Coordinator • Database Management

Professional Experience

Maryland Disability Law Center, Baltimore, MD 2010-2013

Paralegal - Pro Bono Coordinator

Referred Special Education and Medicaid Fair Hearing cases to private attorneys in the state of Maryland

for representation. Ensured that these attorneys received proper training in order to accept Pro Bono

cases.

• Increased the Pro Bono panel from 150 attorneys to 220 attorneys thus allowing MDLC to

increase the number of clients served.

• Created databases to track client/attorney activity for mid-year and year-end grant reports in order

to justify need and continue grant funding.

• Updated letters and process for referring cases to Pro Bono attorneys to expedite the process of

referral and initial contact of client.

• Represented families at Special Education meetings providing clients that would not otherwise

have representation at IEP meetings, to receive legal assistance increasing the number of client’s

agency was able to serve and ensuring educational needs of the client were met.

• Tracked the amount of accessible housing units in Baltimore County over a period of several

months to see if there was enough documentation to institute a law suit against Baltimore County

to show a deficiency in availability of accessible housing.

Disability Rights California, Sacramento, CA 2003-2010

Advocate

Represented individuals with disabilities to access services and benefits such as Social Security, Medi-

Cal, In-Home Supportive Services and Special Education. Advocate through legal opinion letters or

direct representation at Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Hearings, or Individualized Education Program

(IEP) meetings and Employee/Employer mediations for reasonable accommodations and assisting

children within the juvenile justice system.

• Maintained a client base of approximately 20 people monthly with an overall client base

consisting of a minority population of 90%, therefore increasing the agencies statistics of services

to “underserved communities and assisting Disability Rights CA (DRC) in meeting its outreach

goals”

• Represented clients in Welfare to Work issues in which the client had been denied welfare due to

having a disability. Normally people with disabilities would receive a “waiver” for the work

portion of the program but as this client couldn’t work, they were denied services. I researched

the law and requested to represent the client. This was challenging as DCR never previously

represented a client who had been denied welfare to work service due to their disability . I

received approval to represent the client and was able to get their benefits reinstated.

• Consistently carried a caseload of approximately 20 clients per month which was above the

average number of cases carried by other legal staff at the agency.

Protection & Advocacy, Inc., Sacramento, CA 1999-2003

Intake Coordinator

Screened a high number of initial calls to the regional office daily, to determine service eligibility through

intensive fact gathering and establishing level of assistance. Gave client advice, send out publications,

and schedule intake appointments for legal staff, or referred clients to other resources.

• Initiated fact finding sessions with approximately 15 attorneys in order to resolve client’s issues at

the intake step, which helped increase the agency number of client’s served.

• Drafted opinion letters for clients under the direct supervision of an attorney, which helped

increase the agency number of client’s served to about 10 per month.

Protection & Advocacy, Inc., Sacramento, CA 1991-1999

M.I.S. Assistant

Maintained a 100 user Lan/Wan system while supporting hardware and software problems. Served as

Outreach Coordinator and developed outreach plans for the local office under statewide guidelines.

• Upgraded around 20 remote offices with technology in order to allow users to access the agency’s

LAN.

• Trained the users how to utilize the software in order access the programs.

• Selected to participate on the panel at national convention of P&A’s in Washington DC. Company

was 1 of 3 agencies that received an outreach grant . Panel met to discuss outreach strategies and

results of grant funding, (their plan on how the grant money was used and what were the

outcomes and obstacles).

• As a result of participating at the national convention the Tennessee P&A invited me to their P&A

to train their staff on outreach strategies and the importance of culture diversity to the Tennessee

P&A.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Associate Degree - Computer Science University of District of Columbia

Diversity Training, Culture Sensitivity Training, Customer Service Training, Novell Network

Administrator, Voter Registration Training, The Art of Negotiating, Proceeding at an Administrative Law

Judge Hearing

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