Mitchell Hagopian is a Managing Attorney with Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW), Wisconsin’s protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities and mental illness. Before joining DRW in 2001, he worked at the Elder Law Center, the Center for Public Representation, and Western Wisconsin Legal Services. He is a 1985 honors graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School. He received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign (Phi Beta Kappa, 1981).
Mr. Hagopian’s legal career has been devoted entirely to serving low-income and unrepresented populations. His areas of practice include community based long term care services and supports for people with disabilities, guardianship and protective placement, and prevention of abuse and neglect of people with disabilities.
He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services v. Blumer, 534 U.S. 437 (2002), a case involving the Medicaid spousal impoverishment prevention protections. He represented Judy K. in Dunn County v. Judy K., 2002 WI 87, the Wisconsin Supreme Court case that required counties to affirmatively show “a good faith, reasonable effort to find an appropriate placement and to secure funding to pay for an appropriate placement” for individuals subject to Wisconsin’s protective placement statute.
- Advise and assist adults under guardianship with access to voting
- Understand when and how the right to vote may be limited for adults under guardianship
- Learn how to help clients under guardianship restore their right to vote
- Government lawyers
- Administrative lawyers
- Constitutional lawyers
- Elder law attorneys
- Guardians ad litem for adults
- Municipal clerks
- County clerks