About
Kami Z. Barker is Of Counsel at Goddard Law. Kami is an accomplished trial attorney, policy advisor, and communications strategist who represents plaintiffs in labor, employment discrimination, civil rights, and whistleblower matters. Her practice includes claims involving disability, race, religion, sex, pregnancy, and other forms of discrimination, as well as retaliation, constitutional violations, labor disputes, and complex workplace litigation. She has extensive experience litigating in federal and state courts, arbitration, mediation, and administrative proceedings, and is dedicated to helping individuals hold powerful institutions accountable.
Kami’s commitment to advocacy is deeply personal. At age three, she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular disability, and at age eleven, she lost the ability to walk—the same year the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) became law. Despite the ADA’s promise of equal access, her public schools and community were not wheelchair accessible. Refusing to accept those barriers, Kami successfully advocated to become the first student with a disability integrated into her public school system and helped secure accessibility improvements throughout her school and hometown in rural North Carolina. Those experiences inspired her lifelong commitment to civil rights and equal opportunity.
Throughout her personal life and professional career, Kami has challenged powerful institutions through high-profile and precedent-setting litigation. While attending law school, she brought a landmark ADA and Fair Housing Act lawsuit against Emory University after being forced to live in inaccessible graduate housing. The U.S. Department of Justice supported her position through an amicus filing, and the litigation resulted in sweeping accessibility improvements across the university’s campus. Years later, after experiencing firsthand the challenges of navigating the healthcare system, Kami brought a whistleblower action under New York’s False Claims Act against Empire BlueCross BlueShield and EmblemHealth, alleging fraud affecting New York City’s employee health plans.
Before joining the plaintiffs’ bar, Kami spent much of her legal career serving the people of New York City. As an attorney in the Labor & Employment Division of the New York City Law Department, she defended the City in high-profile and complex employment discrimination, retaliation, labor, and constitutional litigation. She tried cases to verdict, negotiated significant settlements, and handled matters involving substantial legal and financial exposure. In addition to her litigation practice, she served as an Adjunct Professor in Cardozo Law School’s Labor & Employment Litigation Lecture and Externship Program, where she developed curriculum and taught future employment lawyers.
Kami also served in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs as the City’s lawyer-lobbyist to the federal government. In that role, she advised senior government officials, prepared agency leaders and public officials for congressional testimony, advocated for federal legislation and funding, drafted executive orders, and advanced policy initiatives through affirmative litigation. Kami’s work provided her with a unique understanding of how government agencies and large institutions assess risk, make policy decisions, and respond to legal challenges.
Prior to joining Goddard Law, Kami served as Senior Litigation Counsel at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, where she litigated civil rights matters involving discrimination and harassment in educational institutions nationwide. Kami also built a distinguished career as an attorney, policy advisor, and communications strategist, advising elected officials and advocacy organizations, developing legislative and public policy initiatives, and leading efforts to advance disability rights and fight antisemitism. She has been a prominent voice on issues affecting individuals with disabilities, the Jewish community, workers, and other marginalized communities, and her commentary and scholarship have appeared in numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, The Jerusalem Post, The Charlotte Observer, the New York Sun, and the Times Union.
Kami has also spoken publicly to major organizations, government agencies, and corporations, such as DisabilityBelongs, NASA, RAND, Inc., the British Ambassador to Israel, and Genentech, about the transformative impact of disability rights laws on the disability community. Finally, Kami was crowned Ms. Wheelchair North Carolina 2014 where she advocated for better representation of people with disabilities in the media and consulted for several television shows, including “The Healing Powers of Dude” and “Teen Mom,” to ensure accurate representations of characters with disabilities.
In 2020, Kami earned a John F. Kennedy fellowship with a full scholarship to attend the Harvard Kennedy School and earn her Mid-Career Master’s in Public Administration. At Harvard, she studied public policy, strategic communications, and political leadership, and Kami was accepted into an elite program called From Harvard Square to the Oval Office, which is meant for potential nontraditional political candidates. She also earned her Juris Doctor in 2005 and Bachelor’s in Business Administration in 2002 from Emory University where she was a Bank of America Abilities Scholar, Willard F. DeWitt Scholar, a scholarship honoring an Emory Law graduate with quadriplegia, and the first-ever recipient of the Matthew C. Grazidei Award, a scholarship honoring a young man with muscular dystrophy from North Carolina.
Kami brings empathy, determination, and firsthand experience to every case she handles. She understands the profound impact that discrimination, exclusion, and retaliation can have on an individual’s life and career. “As a female wheelchair-user with dual citizenship and an observant Jew, I understand the importance of the Civil Rights Act and its progeny more than most,” stated Kami. “Human rights statutes like the ADA made it possible for me to achieve my dreams and become the first jurist in my family. So, it’s my privilege to join Goddard Law where I empower workers every day and ensure that they’re given equal opportunities in the workplace.”