Tim founded TRE Legal Practice to fight for the rights of disabled people.
Tim is a civil rights litigator focusing on disability discrimination cases. Prior to establishing the TRE Legal Practice, he was associated at Brown, Goldstein & Levy as a Disability Rights Fellow. He has helped secure injunctions against testing entities for their failure to accommodate disabled students, negotiated groundbreaking settlements with publicly traded companies, tried employment discrimination and effective communication claims before juries and argued before federal trial and appellate courts.
Tim graduated magna cum laude from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). During law school, he externed with the Hon. Marilyn Hall Patel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He also clerked for the Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center in San Francisco, where he worked on complex employment discrimination cases and represented low-income workers at administrative hearings.
In 2008, Tim was awarded the TenBroek Fellowship for commitment to disability rights, and in 2010, Tim was a recipient of The Daily Record’s VIP by 40 Award, which recognizes younger professionals in Maryland for their professional accomplishments, civic involvement, and impact of achievement.
Tim regularly presents on the topic of disability law. He holds leadership positions in the American Bar Association and the National Association of Blind Lawyers. He is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Through his civic involvement, he actively works to promote diversity within the legal profession.
Selected Cases
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Case Profile: California Insurance Exam
The case settlement resolves claims about the accessibility of insurance agent licensing examinations for blind applicants who use screen reading software to non-visually access text. Case Profile >
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Case Profile: Martinez v. County of Alameda
Yes, under the ADA, if a blind business owner comes to a government office to file her paper form, staff do need to read and write on official forms under her direction. That’s the jury verdict delivered by a federal jury in California against Alameda County on Tuesday, April 3, 2024. The case is still active. Case Profile >
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Case Profile: Orozco v. Garland (Dept. of Justice)
A blind FBI analyst is seeking to make the Department of Justice provide him with accessible workplace software. The case is currently active. Case Profile >
Selected Media
- American Foundation for the Blind, “Unlocking Potential”: Civil Rights Attorney Tim Elder on the ADA Turning 30 (2020).
- Berkeleyside, “She fought on behalf of her blind son. Now BUSD will make online learning tools more accessible” (2022).
- InclusionHub, Episode 4: “The Significance of the ADA” (2022).
- Forbes, Web Accessibility Laws Set To Enter New Era As DOJ Gears Up For Spring Rulemaking (2023)