Lainey is a disability rights lawyer who has worked to make the digital world more accessible since 1995. She helped negotiate the first web accessibility agreement in the United States in 2000. Since then she has brought together people with disabilities and public and private sector organizations across the United States to improve digital accessibility. Her negotiating partners have included Bank of America, Major League Baseball, the City and County of San Francisco, and CVS.
Lainey developed and practices Structured Negotiation, a dispute resolution and collaboration strategy that avoids lawsuits and focuses on lasting change and relationship-building. Structured Negotiation has been used to advance accessibility for more than a quarter century. Lainey is also the author of Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits (2d edition 2021). Her book shares stories and strategies for using Structured Negotiation both to avoid lawsuits and to make filed lawsuits less contentious. It also explores examples of advocates using Structured Negotiation tools outside of a legal context.
Lainey is also a consultant and an international speaker and trainer on topics including collaborative problem solving, the digital accessibility legal space, accessibility ethics, accessible procurement, and best practices for baking digital accessibility into policies and practices of organizations large and small. In 2017 Lainey was selected as an American Bar Association Legal Rebel – a group of “innovators who are remaking the legal profession.” She has twice been named a California Lawyer Magazine Attorney of the Year, and in 2022 received the Jim Thatcher Lifetime Achievement award during the Axe-Con conference. More information on Lainey’s website.