Co-Chair Esther Canty-Barnes, Esq.

Esther Canty-Barnes, is a summa cum laude graduate of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina and a graduate of Rutgers University Law School in Newark.

She currently serves as Clinical Professor and Director of the Special Education Clinic at Rutgers University School where she represents indigent parents and students with disabilities, trains law students in this specialized area of the law and conducts workshops for judges, court personnel, various agencies, and attorneys in an effort to broaden the resources and information available to parents of children with disabilities.

Since her tenure with the Clinic, Ms. Canty Barnes has represented numerous children with disabilities and assisted in the training of parents, attorneys, judges, case managers, foster parents, and persons interested in the health and welfare of disabled children. She has participated in several conferences and served as guest lecturer at the Rutgers University undergraduate and graduate schools of education, William Paterson University and the University of Novi Sad, Serbia

She was responsible for broadening the Clinic's community outreach by coordinating workshops, roundtable discussions, and trainings, and sought ways in which to develop partnerships and linkages within the community to serve the needs of disabled children. In 2002, in conjunction with the Essex County Family Court, she developed a "Special Education in the Courts Initiative" to educate parents and caregivers and to assist responsible parties in identifying and referring children, who were in need of early intervention and special education services. Recently, the program was expanded to offer judicial training to each county vicinage on the early intervention and special education systems, and to serve as a resource to the family courts, court personnel and resource families to address these needs.

Prior to becoming Director of the Special Education Clinic, Ms. Canty-Barnes was a Municipal Court Judge in Irvington where she developed an educational component to her role as Municipal Court Judge. She regularly invited elementary school aged children into court to explain the legal process and using the facts from various children stories, conducted mock trials. Through her efforts, she organized the first Law Day program at Irvington High School featuring former Justice James A. Coleman, Jr. (the first African American Supreme Court Justice in the State of New Jersey) and attorneys from various professions.

As a young attorney employed with Camden Regional Legal Services, she successfully challenged the Welfare Department's interpretation of its regulations which denied an unwed mother benefits because the absent parent had daily contact with the child. The Appellate Court concluded In the Matter of Kimberly Souder, that the policy of terminating AFDC benefits based upon a "mere showing of a frequent pattern of visits between the absent parent and the child" was improper.

Ms. Canty-Barnes is a member of the New Jersey Court Improvement Committee and the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Women. As a member of the Committee on Women, she was instrumental in establishing a subcommittee on Women of Color, organized focus groups concerning women of color and assisted in the development and planning of a program recognizing trailblazing women of color. Ms. Canty-Barnes is a past president of the Association of Black Women Lawyers. While president, she testified before the Task Force on Minority Concerns on various issues involving minorities in the Court. Her testimony was quoted extensively and used as a basis for many of the recommendations made by the Task Force and led to the Supreme Court implementing policies surrounding the sentencing of parents of minor children without first allowing the parent to arrange for the care of the minor children.

Ms. Canty-Barnes is the recipient of many awards. They include awards from the National Association of Women Judges (District III); the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education in Washington, D.C.; the Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, Inc.; and the Association of American Law Schools Clinical Legal Education Association for her excellence in teaching and contributions to the advancement of social justice.

Ms. Canty-Barnes is a member of St. Marks United Methodist Church in Montclair, New Jersey where she serves as a founding member of the Church's Neighborhood Dispute Resolution Team; and Co-Superintendent of the Church's Family Life Center. As a member of the Conflict Resolution Team she was instrumental in obtaining the Church's first grant to Train children and young adult in ways to resolve conflict by using Christian Principals and has incorporated conflict resolution into the church's Sunday School and Vacation Bible School Curriculum.