A law professor at the University of Washington, Paul S. Miller, will join President Obama’s staff to help with political appointments in the Departments of Education and Justice, among other federal agencies.

Mr. Miller, an expert on disability and employment-discrimination law and a former member of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, informed his law-school colleagues by e-mail that, as special assistant to Mr. Obama, he would help select officials who will “directly impact disabled people and disability programs through the government,” the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

The newspaper reported that Mr. Miller, who previously served on the Obama transition team, also said he would return to the law school in time to teach in the fall of 2009. —Megan Eckstein