About Lainey Feingold

Lainey Feingold with microphone in hand

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This page has information about Lainey Feingold. Lainey is a disability rights lawyer and an author. For twenty-five years she has focused on technology and information access issues for blind people. Lainey worked on the first legal agreements in the country about Talking ATMs and web access. Instead of filing lawsuits, Lainey uses Structured Negotiation. It is a strategy that focuses on problem solving. With this method, she brings together disabled people, businesses and governments. Together, they work to make tech available to everyone. Lainey is a public speaker who has been honored for her work.

Welcome to Lainey Feingold’s “About” Page.  Here you can find the following information:

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Before Opening the Law Office of Lainey Feingold

Lainey Feingold graduated law school in 1981 and has been a disability rights lawyer since 1992. Between 1981 and 1992 Lainey worked for the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), a private union-side labor firm, and a private civil rights firm. From 1992 – 1996 she was Litigation Director at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) in Berkeley, California.

In October 1996 Lainey opened the Law Office of Lainey Feingold.

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Overview of Lainey Feingold’s Law Practice

Lainey represents disabled people seeking full participation in the digital world. For twenty-seven years her principal work has been with the blind and visually impaired community on technology and information access issues, including web and mobile accessibility. She also consults with organizations about digital accessibility, is an author, and is a sought after public speaker on issues of digital accessibility, collaborative problem solving, and best practices for building and advocating for an inclusive digital world.

Along with clients and co-counsel, Lainey developed Structured Negotiation, an alternative to filing a lawsuit that emphasizes collaboration and focuses on solution. The second edition of Lainey’s book about Structured Negotiation was published in October, 2021.

Using this method, Lainey and her co-counsel have negotiated dozens of settlement agreements without filing a single lawsuit. She has negotiated these agreements with some of the largest organizations in the United States, including American Express, the City and County of San Francisco, Bank of America, Weight Watchers, CVS, Wal-Mart, Major League Baseball, and Wells Fargo Bank.

In addition to handling her own cases in Structured Negotiation, Lainey assists attorneys across the United States who want to learn the alternative dispute resolution process and offers in-depth trainings on Structured Negotiation strategy.

Lainey has long worked with the blind community nationally in successful efforts to obtain Talking ATMs, accessible websites and mobile applications, tactile point of sale devices, accessible (audible) pedestrian signals, talking prescription labels, audio description equipment, and alternative formats including braille, audio, electronic and large print.

In addition to her work with the blind community, she has resolved numerous other cases on behalf of persons with disabilities, including national class actions against Shell and Chevron resulting in ADA implementation at over 5,000 service stations across the country.

Non-Profit Organization Involvement

Lainey was a founding steering committee member of the Disability Rights Bar Association (DRBA), a national organization of disability rights lawyers founded in 2009.

In 2023 Lainey joined the Board of Teach Access, a non-profit organization collaborating with education, industry, and disability advocacy organizations to address the accessibility skills gap in higher education. Teach Access works to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility and disability inclusion in tech as they learn to design, develop, build, and manage new technologies. Read the press release announcing that Lainey joined the Teach Access Board.

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Lainey’s Book

Lainey’s book, Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits shares stories and strategies from a quarter century of collaborative problem solving and claims resolution, primarily in the digital accessibility space. It is available in print and digital formats from Amazon and other online book sellers in both paperback and accessible digital versions. For readers with print disabilities the book is also available in Bookshare.  First published in 2016, the second edition, with new content and a foreword by author Haben Girma, was published in October, 2021.

Lainey launched her book at the Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley California on October 16, 2016, followed by an East Coast launch at Harvard Law School. Since that time she has spoken across the United States and across the globe about Structured Negotiation and collaborative problem solving, and about digital accessibility.

  • Visit the Speaking Page to learn more about Lainey’s past and upcoming talks, trainings, and keynote speeches, and what she can offer your organization.
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Honors and Awards

Lainey has been recognized for her Structured Negotiation and digital accessibility work: