Robert L. Hernandez, Esq.

Robert LeRoux Hernandez is a staff attorney for Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (MHLAC), where he engages in systemic litigation and education advancing the rights of persons with mental disabilities, focusing on education, language access and race, racism and mental health. He is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University. He was a founder and former President of the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys and is a past President of the New England Region of the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is a former chair of the Massachusetts Joint Bar Committee on Judicial Appointments and of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America Civil Rights Section. A member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, he has spent more than 40 years as a civil litigator, concentrating in discrimination and civil rights. He has taught at Boston University School of Law, College of the Holy Cross (Latin American and Latino Studies Program) and Tufts University (Experimental College), including courses on Undocumented Immigration and Latin@s and the Law. Among his significant cases is Wynne v. Tufts University School of Medicine, 932, F.2d 19 (1st Cir. 1991) (en banc), which set the standard for evaluating §504 discrimination claim of a dyslexic student relative to medical school standardized testing, providing a basis for eventual accommodations on College Boards for learning disabled students and for recognizing educational institutions’ duty to accommodate learning disabilities in testing. He has written and presented on such topics as disability rights, race-based discrimination, undocumented migration and ICE misconduct. His publications include, “Becoming ‘Illegal.’” PRAXIS: The Fletcher Journal of Human Security, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, v. 29, Spring 2016.