Dylan Colbert hired as Joseph V. Kaplan Workers’ Rights Fellow

Dylan Colbert hired as Joseph V. Kaplan Workers’ Rights Fellow

PRESS RELEASE

Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C. Hires Dylan Colbert as Joseph V. Kaplan Workers’ Rights Fellow at the Oakland-Based Civil Rights, Employment Law Firm: Fellowship Named for Inspiring Attorney, Mentor who Fell Victim to Covid-19

August 30, 2021 – Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C. welcomes Dylan Colbert as the firm’s second Joseph V. Kaplan Workers’ Rights Fellow. She joins the firm after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law with a Public Interest and Social Justice certificate.

Ms. Colbert served on the editorial board of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice during law school, publishing articles that integrate intersectional feminism with legal advocacy. She also worked with the East Bay Community Law Center’s Health and Welfare Clinic, providing a full array of support to low income residents receiving public benefits. Ms. Colbert worked as a law clerk at Disability Rights California, where she advocated for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities under the Lanterman Act. She also worked as a legal intern with interACT, analyzing and drafting legislation to protect intersex youth from unneccessary surgery. Ms. Colbert also volunteered with Legal Aid at Work’s Workers’ Rights Disability Law Clinic, a student-run program providing advice and advocacy for workers with disabilities in the community.

Before law school Ms. Colbert received her degree in Social Work from Skidmore College. She has been involved in public interest work in Amsterdam, upstate New York, and New York City.

Ms. Colbert’s fellowship is named for Joseph V. Kaplan, Esq., a founder of Passman & Kaplan in Washington, DC, a law firm dedicated to workers’ rights for the last 30 years, where Mr. Schwartz first began private practice. Mr. Kaplan died last year from complications of Covid-19. A Washington Post tribute to Mr. Kaplan is here.

“Joe was the person who taught me what it means to be a strong and passionate advocate for workers,” said Mr. Schwartz of the fellowship. “We lost Joe and so many others to Covid-19, but it is a fitting tribute to him that the next generation of civil rights lawyers be trained in his honor.”

“I am grateful to have the opportunity to carry on his legacy through the Joseph V. Kaplan Workers’ Rights Fellowship,” added Ms. Colbert, upon learning she would receive the fellowship. “I hope that my work can honor the values that he lived and espoused throughout his life,” she said.

Since 2009, Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C. has dedicated itself to continuing the struggle for civil rights and equal employment opportunity, and helping Americans from every background to achieve their highest career potential. The firm focuses on individual, class, and collective actions involving discrimination and retaliation, harassment, denied disability accommodations, whistleblower reprisal, wage and hour violations, federal employees’ rights, and severance negotiations.