Our Story
The Golden law story
Rachelle Taylor Golden, Esq. suffered a spinal cord injury as a teenager which rendered her paraplegic from the hips down. Ms. Golden now uses a manual wheelchair for mobility. This experience changed Ms. Golden’s perspective of the built environment around her. After her accident, Ms. Golden endeavored to impact the built environment and set off to college to become an interior designer. However, when she arrived at San Diego State University, she came to realize that the bridge connecting her dormitory to the main campus was inaccessible. During her freshman year of college, the bridge was torn down and a “temporary” bridge was constructed and was to be in place for five years, but was more inaccessible than the original bridge. Instead of filing a lawsuit against the University, Mr. Golden proactively engaged in conversations with the school and was able to obtain an agreement that the “temporary” inaccessible bridge was torn down early and the new permanent accessible bridge would be constructed.
This experience dramatically changed Ms. Golden’s perspective, and she saw the power that a simple conversation and negotiation could dramatically change the lives of those with disabilities. It was at this point Ms. Golden changed her major from fine art to English with the dream of going to law school.
Since graduating from San Joaquin College of Law in 2013, Ms. Golden has a defense litigator and represents businesses, large and small, throughout the State of California and defends clients against “drive-by” and “surf-by” lawsuits. Ms. Golden has chosen to use her disability to educate businesses about the reasons why accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Unruh Act actually does make a difference, as she would be unable to access the world with these bodies of law. However, Ms. Golden refuses to use her disability for financial personal gain and defends companies against what she believes are often frivolous lawsuits regarding construction-related and website-related accessibility access claims. Ms. Golden has chosen to use her disability to affect positive change for companies and regularly proactively consults with private and public entities alike to make changes that address actual barriers to those with disabilities. Ms. Golden is also a highly sought-after defense civil litigator who is not afraid to take on predatory plaintiffs.
Golden Law A.P.C. is your company’s one-stop accessibility shop for all issues arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Unruh Act.