Tom Behrendt, J.D.

Tom served for many years as Legal Director of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project (CLRP). Since retiring, he has served as Counsel Emeritus with CLRP. Prior to coming to Connecticut, he was with Mental Hygiene Legal Service in New York State, where he was a founding member of its Special Litigation and Appeals Unit. Tom was recently was honored with the Charles J. Parker Legal Services Award from the Connecticut Bar Association (2018) and is a past recipient of the Spirit of the ADA Award (Americans with Disabilities Coalition of Connecticut, 2012).

Tom is a member of the Community Advisory Board of Elm City COMPASS ("Compassionate Allies Serving our Streets"), a new crisis response program for individuals in New Haven, Connecticut. He serves on Disability Rights Connecticut's PAIMI Advisory Council, is a former member and past president of NARPA's Board of Directors, and was a board member of Disability Rights Connecticut and of its predecessor, the Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities. He was a founding board member of Advocacy Unlimited, and a past co-chair of the PAIMI Advisory Councils in Connecticut as well as in New York, where he was also active with Project Release and the Free Association.