Ms. Vu is a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office and the leader of the Firm’s ADA Title III Specialty Practice Team. Ms. Vu’s national practice focuses exclusively on the legal obligations of places of public accommodation, recipients of federal funding, government contractors, and housing providers to individuals with disabilities under Title III of the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing Act, and various state non-discrimination statutes. In 2012, Ms. Vu authored the “ADA Guide for Lodging Owners and Operators,” the first book of its kind published by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and also testified before Congress on behalf of the AH&LA on new ADA requirements for lifts at pools and spas. Ms. Vu also is the editor of and a primary contributor to Seyfarth’s ADA Title III News & Insights blog which has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal and CNN.

After many years of litigating cases at all levels of the federal judicial system and before state and federal agencies, Ms. Vu joined the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) where she served as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In that position, Ms. Vu oversaw the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Rehabilitation Act, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She also represented DOJ on the U.S. Access Board, the federal agency charged with creating accessibility guidelines for public accommodations and commercial facilities.

Litigation Defense. Since returning to the private sector in 2004, Ms. Vu has handled a wide array of individual plaintiff and class action disability discrimination matters involving public accommodations throughout the United States, including those brought in California, Florida, Boston, and Pennsylvania . Ms. Vu has successfully defended public accommodations (e.g. hotels, shopping centers, retailers, restaurants, banks, casinos, and health care facilities) in a broad range of accessibility lawsuits under Title III of the ADA and similar state laws involving architectural as well as operational barriers to access. In one nationwide ADA accessibility lawsuit against a national hotel company, Ms. Vu successfully narrowed the scope of the lawsuit from more than 2800 hotels to four on a motion to dismiss. Ms. Vu also successfully obtained the complete dismissal of thirteen consolidated ADA lawsuits against a national retailer before any discovery took place.

Government Compliance Investigations. Ms. Vu specializes in the representation of companies under investigation by the DOJ and state enforcement agencies for alleged violations of Title III of the ADA and FHA. She has successfully negotiated numerous settlements and consent decrees with the DOJ and private plaintiffs on behalf of hotels, restaurants, retailers, and financial services companies concerning virtually every conceivable subject matter, including architectural barriers, effective communication (e.g. sign language interpreters, documents in alternate formats, accessible websites and mobile apps), ATMs, and service animals.

Advice, Counseling, Policy Development, and Training. Ms. Vu’s practice includes advising clients on the requirements of the ADA and other disability laws and creating compliance policies and training programs. The country's top retailers, banks, hospitality companies, car rental companies, casinos, and equipment manufacturers have retained Ms. Vu to help them create national enterprise-wide ADA compliance policies, operational procedures, and customized training materials for thousands of employees. She guides clients on cutting edge disability issues such as the applicability of Title III of the ADA to websites and mobile applications, the new 2010 ADA Standards for accessible facilities, pool and spa lifts, point of sale devices, medical equipment, self-service equipment, hotel reservations processes, and ATMs. Manufacturers of customer-facing self-service equipment have also retained Ms. Vu to opine on whether the design of their machines are accessible to individuals with various types of disabilities. Ms. Vu also advises real estate developers, builders and architects on the accessible design and construction requirements of the FHA for multifamily dwellings, and defends lawsuits and government investigations based on such requirements.

Federal Rulemaking Proceedings. Since 2006, Ms. Vu has served as ADA counsel to the nation's top lodging trade association. She has represented the interests of the lodging industry in every major rulemaking under Title III of the ADA, including the 2010 revisions to the ADA Title III regulations as well as the pending rulemakings for furniture, equipment, and accessible websites.