Our Team

Attorney

Lucy Hatchell joined DRNC in 2015 as a disability law fellow on the education team. After her fellowship, she stayed on as a valued member of the team working to resolve special education and discipline issues. Hatchell, a native of Chapel H…

Advocate

Curtis Hill joined DRNC in April 2019 as an advocate for the agency’s emergency management and disaster relief efforts where he assisted people with disabilities affected by Hurricane Florence. In 2020, Hill expanded his role to focusin…

Supervising Attorney

Chris has practiced law since 2015, starting as a Disability Law Fellow on the former CAT. Since then, he has successfully represented clients in state hearings, before the EEOC, and in federal court. He has also served as target leader at D…

Equal Justice Works Fellow

(sponsored by American Tire Distributors) Sarah Hoffman joined DRNC in September 2021 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow. Her work focuses on understanding how NC prisons treat people with mental illness and recommending strategies to ke…

Attorney

Mellonee Kennedy joined Disability Rights North Carolina in May 2021 as an Attorney. Her work focuses on Medicaid Appeals for the purpose of maintaining people in their homes and out of institutions. She holds an MSW from Florida State Uni…

Advocate

Jolona Kinlaw joined Disability Rights North Carolina in August of 2022 as an Advocate on the Education Team. She holds a bachelors in Psychology from East Carolina University and a masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Capel…

Legal Director

Emma Kinyanjui joined DRNC in 2016. She held the position of supervising attorney for the Community Inclusion Team until 2020 when she was promoted to legal director. In this capacity, she supervises DRNC’s legal unit, including the Inve…

Advocate/Paralegal, NCCP

Nick Lett was born and raised in Sanford, NC, where his family owned and operated Lee Builder Mart for three generations. He received his bachelor’s degree from UNC-Wilmington and a diploma in paralegal technology from Central Carolina C…

Chief Executive Officer

Virginia Knowlton Marcus joined the DRNC team as the CEO in September 2018. Virginia is an attorney with lived experience who has been advocating for disability rights in multiple states, federally and internationally for the past 25 yea…