“The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice.” – Bryan Stevenson

Lauren DiMartino joined Brown, Goldstein & Levy to represent clients across various areas of civil rights law, including fair housing, education and disability rights, LGBTQ+ rights, police misconduct, and workplace discrimination. Her practice also includes appeals, and commercial litigation.

Lauren’s client-centered practice is focused on ensuring diverse communities can thrive, whether it’s through challenging various types of discrimination in housing, employment, or education, holding government actors accountable, or advocating for local businesses embroiled in dispute. She has a robust practice involving the Fair Housing Act, utilizing it to assist individuals and non-profits impacted by discriminatory conduct and to challenge systems perpetuating segregation, with a particular interest in the intersection of housing and public education. She works with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title IX, Title VII, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to advocate for equity in education, healthcare, the workplace, and professional licensing. Lauren also advocates for organizations that provide supports and services to individuals with disabilities as well as community-based mental health providers—providing advice and counsel on their business needs and the successful provision of their services, negotiating solutions, and litigating where necessary.

Lauren clerked for Judge Martha Craig Daughtry on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was previously the Legal Fellow at the University of Colorado School of Law’s Byron White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law where she researched the potential for new civil rights legislation, analyzed trends in national injunctions, and helped develop new initiatives around voting and civic engagement. Lauren graduated from the City University of New York School of Law, a public-interest program, with a concentration in Social Justice, Equality, and Civil Rights. At CUNY Law, she served as the Student Authorship Editor of the Law Review and a research assistant on fair housing and issues surrounding college and professional access for undocumented students. In the Equality and Justice Clinic, Lauren worked primarily on cases involving police misconduct and employment law.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Lauren worked in marketing before transitioning to work in New York City community colleges because of her commitment to racial and economic justice. She worked as an academic counselor and the Assistant Director of ASAP, an accelerated education program aimed at removing systemic barriers to obtaining a degree. She was inspired by her students to attend law school as a tool to better advocate for marginalized communities. She remains active in community work, and is on the Advisory Boards of the Urban Studies Program at Guttman Community College (CUNY) and of Baltimore Youth Arts, teaches Appellate Advocacy at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law, and serves on the Baltimore City Office of Inspector General Citizen Advisory Board.

Lauren is admitted to the bar of the states of New York, Maryland, and New Jersey.

 

Representative Cases

  • Successfully negotiated a pre-litigation settlement of $100,000 on behalf of a young professional that suffered severe emotional distress as a result of being inappropriately groped at a conference.

  • Successfully secured parking accommodations on behalf of a client with a disability who had been denied parking at her residence because of her inability to drive her own vehicle in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

  • Doe v. Catholic Relief Services (D. Md) – Obtained a federal district court victory on behalf of a married gay employee who challenged Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) withdrawal of health insurance benefits for his husband under Title VII, the Equal Pay Act, and the Maryland Equal Pay Act. CRS argued that their religious status precluded enforcement of Title VII against them, but the court held that no exemptions apply to permit such discrimination.

  • Kennedy v. Bremerton School District – Submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of Bremerton community members in support of the school district, which placed a former high school football coach on administrative leave for defying the district’s orders to stop praying with students at the 50-yard line after games – despite it jeopardizing the district’s policies and others’ First Amendment rights.

Awards

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  • Maryland Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2024
  • The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch for Appellate practice, Civil Rights Law, Commercial Litigation, and Labor and Employment Law – Employee, 2024
  • Vice Chancellor’s Excellence in Leadership Award,  CUNY Law 2017
  • Grant: Deliberation in Community Colleges, The Democracy Commitment & The Kettering Foundation 2015-2016
Presentations
Media Appearances
Articles & Publications