Nishanthi Kurukulasuriya

Though they might not know all their rights, Kurukulasuriya said kids are pretty good about knowing when something’s wrong.

Kurukulasuriya recently served as co-counsel in a winning effort against the Pasadena Unified School District, which was accused of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing unequal access to students with behavior-related disabilities. The district was unnecessarily segregating these students from their peers without disabilities, according to the complaint, transferring them to the district’s “Focus Point” school where Kurukulasuriya said they were denied access to extracurricular activities while they received comparatively substandard education services.

Having represented many marginalized clients over her five years as an attorney with Mental Health Advocacy Services – including hundreds of low-income earners suffering from mental health disabilities – Kurukulasuriya said many are aware that they’re being treated unjustly. But they’re not equipped to wage a protracted legal battle; that’s where lawyers like her step in.

“They don’t need you to be a mental health adviser, they need you to be their lawyer. They don’t need you to be their therapist, they need you to be their advocate,” Kurukulasuriya said. “The need for these services is growing, but the resources aren’t.”

Kurukulasuriya said she’s grown accustom to helping clients through individual claims, so the federal class action lawsuit against the Pasadena Unified School District presented new challenges for her.

“I’m used to more individual representation, so it was really my first and only experience with something like this,” Kurukulasuriya said.

Kurukulasuriya interviewed witnesses, drafted declarations, and helped form the litigation strategy that helped motivate the defendants to broker a deal. A settlement agreement reached in November 2018 will improve the quality of the district’s services for students with behavior-related disabilities, she said.

Since her early days of law school, Kurukulasuriya said she knew she wanted to find a legal career that would allow her to help those who truly need it the most. Mental Health Advocacy Services provided her that opportunity, she said.

“I remember challenging myself, I wanted to be a better person. And with your job – the thing you spend most of your hours doing – I wanted to do something that would make me feel better in my non-work hours,” Kurukulasuriya said. “I didn’t know exactly in what way, but it really worked out in the end.”

— Steven Crighton