Michael Allen is a partner in the civil rights law firm of Relman Colfax PLLC where his practice focuses on litigation under the Fair Housing Act and related civil rights laws. He joined the firm in June 2006, after 11 years of litigation and other advocacy on behalf of poor people and people with disabilities at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and a decade at Legal Services of Northern Virginia. He is a 1979 graduate of Georgetown University, and received his law degree in 1985 from the University of Virginia. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia. Michael has written, lectured and consulted widely on civil rights and NIMBYism.