Click here for a report of our major accomplishments in 2006-2007.

Brought Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth, a case that finally established the fundamental right of all children with disabilities to receive a public school education. In 1975, the Court's decree was codified in the statute now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Since that time, the Law Center has successfully handled countless cases on behalf of individual children with disabilities to maximize their right to be included in regular classrooms.

In the 1990s, acted as lead counsel with other advocacy groups representing a class of children and a group of children's organizations in Scott v. Snider, a landmark lawsuit filed against the state of Pennsylvania which tripled the number of children enrolled in Medicaid from 300,000 to 900,000 and dramatically improved the amount and quality of comprehensive health care services delivered to enrollees by the state. The Law Center has filed similar suits in Michigan and Oklahoma.

In the 1990s, undertook a major effort to improve public education for Philadelphia's 215,000 schoolchildren. On behalf of a long list of advocacy organizations, the Law Center intervened in the city's long running school desegregation case. In 2004, the Law Center, along with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, successfully negotiated a memorandum of understanding that allows for the monitoring of the distribution of resources between desegregated and racially isolated schools so that a determination can be made as to whether the District is complying with the remedial steps previously set forth by the court to improve the academic achievement of these students.

Brought Halderman v. Pennhurst, a case argued three times before the United States Supreme Court, which mandated the closing of the Pennhurst institution and the placement of its residents in quality, community-based settings. Similar suits by the Law Center in Connecticut, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Illinois, Montana, California, Delaware and Tennessee have ended/seek an end to the segregation of persons with disabilities.

Settled a case with the Pennsylvania Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission on behalf of a man with epilepsy who was beaten in his home by inadequately trained police officers that resulted in the participation of advocates for persons with epilepsy, autism, mental retardation, Alzheimer's disease and physical disabilities on a panel convened to develop a training curriculum for all municipal police officers in Pennsylvania. This curriculum was adopted subsequently by the F.B.I. for use in its training programs.

Representing a powerful coalition of trade unions and environmental organizations, the Law Center drafted and negotiated the passage of a Right-to-Know ordinance guaranteeing the right of employees and community residents to be informed about toxic substances in the workplace and in the community.

In Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living v. the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the Law Center brought the first civil rights lawsuit in the country charging a state with discriminatory permitting policies. In South Camden Citizens in Action v. the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Law Center filed a similar suit and received national attention when a District Court Judge ruled that the state had violated the civil rights of the residents by failing to investigate the impact of the facility in accordance with EPA administrative guidelines. This decision was overturned on appeal, however, when the Supreme Court, ruling in a separate matter, eliminated citizen lawsuits to enforce civil rights regulations.