Lambda Legal Announces New HIV Project Head

NEW YORK  - Lambda Legal announced that Scott Schoettes, who has been with Lambda Legal as the HIV Project Staff Attorney since October 2007, has been hired as the new HIV Project Director. 

"As an openly HIV-positive man, my work is strengthened by my own experience," said Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director for Lambda Legal. "I am thrilled with the opportunity to continue my work advocating on behalf of people living with HIV at Lambda Legal by stepping into this new role as director." 

Schoettes attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. While in law school, Schoettes was an associate editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. After graduating magna cum laude in 2002, he clerked for the Honorable J. Frederick Motz in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and worked as a litigator in the Chicago office of Latham & Watkins. 

"We are extremely fortunate to be able to have Scott take over the duties of the HIV Project Director.  His extensive knowledge and perceptive insights about HIV law and policy will undoubtedly lead the way to even greater successes in our work on behalf of people living with HIV," said Lambda Legal's Legal Director, Jon Davidson.   

Schoettes was lead counsel in Rose v. Cahee, a recently resolved case involving discrimination against a woman living with HIV in Wisconsin who was denied needed medical care because she is HIV-positive. He also litigated Franke v. Parkstone Living Center, involving HIV discrimination by an assisted living facility, and worked on Taylor v. Rice, which resulted in the end of the blanket ban on people with HIV being hired for the Foreign Service. He co-authored Lambda Legal's amicus brief regarding HIV confidentiality protections in Anonymous v. New York State Department of Health and has participated in the briefing of every other HIV-related matter at Lambda Legal since his hire. On the policy side, Schoettes has been the point-person for Lambda Legal's work on the repeal of the HIV travel ban, has presented on HIV and aging issues at the White House, and recently spoke at a Congressional briefing regarding HIV criminalization.