by Audrey Ehrhardt, Esq., CBC, Practice42
ADA accessibility and compliance in law firm websites across the nation are becoming not only more relevant, but a necessity as we see an increasing amount of litigation against businesses over their websites. Website accessibility lawsuits center around the fact that all, or a portion of, the business website or app is inaccessible to the disabled. We are watching as the filing of website accessibility lawsuits rises dramatically. While in 2017, we only saw an increase in these types of lawsuits by 17%, in 2018 we have seen an increase by 181%.1
Most of us understand and have taken the steps we need to take in order to ensure our physical location is ADA friendly, but what about our law firm website? From parking spaces and clear, wide entryways to employee training on relay communication and braille friendly documents, our law practices are friendly to disabled persons. This holds true in many small firms, even when they are not required to be disability-friendly under Title I of the ADA.