Natalie M. Chin is an Associate Professor of Law at the City University of New York and Director of the Disability Rights & Social Justice Clini (DRSJC). The DRSJC represents low-income New Yorkers in a range of issues including prisoners’ rights; securing due process protections in areas that include guardianship; alternatives to guardianship; and disability-based discrimination. Prior to joining CUNY’s faculty, Professor Chin was an Assistant Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Director of the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, where she created and developed the first law school clinic that advocates for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. During her tenure at BLS, the clinic represented clients in federal, state and administrative proceedings. Students advocated on a range of issues, including the right to maintain sexual autonomy, discrimination in access to health care, deaf discrimination, administrative appeals to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, parental rights, and ensuring that the due process rights of adults with intellectual disabilities was protected in 17-A guardianship proceedings.
Prior to her teaching career, Professor Chin was a devoted public interest attorney. She litigated cases and led education and public policy reform efforts to achieve equal rights for LGBT people and individuals living with HIV at Lambda Legal. Her litigation also included cases that affect people with mental health disabilities and the elderly, as well as those involving violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Prior to starting her legal career, Professor Chin was a journalist in California and worked in South Africa, where her reported predominantly focused on social welfare issues and on Black South African women living in the township and rural areas.
Professor Chin was appointed in 2018 to serve on the Board of Directors of the Disability Rights Bar Association (DRBA). She is also a member of the DRBA’s Diversity Task Force. She is a on the Advisory Committee of the Supported Decision Making New York State project. Professor Chin is also a former Co-Chair and board member of FIERCE, an LGBT youth of color organization. Professor Chin graduated with a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University. She received her J.D. from George Washington School of Law.
Professor Chin’s scholarship explores the intersections of disability and civil rights law in areas that impact the most fundamental aspects of one’s life, including sexuality, sexual rights and reproductive justice.
