Deputy Executive Director for Legal Services
Legal Services
David Hutt directs and oversees the 12 staff members of the NDRN Legal Services Unit who provide assistance on a range of legal rights and management issues which impact persons with disabilities and the federally created Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system. Dr. Hutt has a range of expertise in disability rights issues which includes employment discrimination law, guardianship and alternatives to guardianship, vocational rehabilitation, and various federal and state enforcement mechanism. He assists the Protection and Advocacy system with authorities under the P&A enabling acts, standing in federal court, lobbying issues, legal ethics, abuse and neglect investigations and monitoring, and human trafficking. Dr. Hutt has a long history of working with various coalitions and partners, and most recently lead efforts to organize the Fourth National Guardianship Summit held in May 2021.
Prior to his current role, Dr. Hutt was involved in international disability rights issues, and led the research and writing of four reports for the National Council on Disability published between 2018 and 2021 on the enforcement of federal disability rights law and the federal AbilityOne program. He previously managed the development of the first Social Security Representative Payee Review Project and provided training and technical assistance to the Client Assistance Program. Prior to joining NDRN, Dr. Hutt was a staff attorney at Legal Services of Central New York representing clients in employment discrimination, vocational rehabilitation, consumer debt, and accessibility cases, including a federal trial under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He earned a B.A. from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., and holds a J.D. and Ph.D. in political science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is licensed to practice law in New York State and the District of Columbia.
