Remote Working Inquiry Submission

The Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee is undertaking a short inquiry into the implications for Wales of the Welsh Government’s proposals on remote working.

Following changes in behaviour seen during the COVID-19 pandemic the Welsh Government is aiming to “work with organisations to support a long term shift to more people working remotely.” It has defined remote working as “working outside of a traditional office or ‘central’ place of work.” This would include “working at home and close to home in your local community”. The Welsh Government has stated that it would like to have 30% of workers in Wales working remotely on a regular basis over the long term, but highlights that this is “not a target and no requirements will be put upon organisations and employers.”

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Article in The Conversation

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The Legally Disabled? team is always looking out for opportunities to share our research with a wider audience. Although based on the legal sector, our findings and recommendations can easily apply to disabled people working in other professional occupations.

From experiences of poor access during recruitment to the lessons learned from online working during Covid, there is much that employers can do in many industries to become more disability-inclusive.

Find out more in The Conversation.

New report launch: Covid-19

Cardiff Business school logo and The Law Society logo with text legally disabled? The impact of covid 19 on the employment and training of disabled lawyers in england and wales. opportunities for job redesign and best practice

Greater flexibility could enhance access to the profession for disabled lawyers 

Our new research on how disabled lawyers have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic shows increased remote working and more flexibility with reasonable adjustments could make the legal profession more accessible.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, many law firms, legal businesses and in-house teams began working from home for all staff – a reasonable adjustment which many disabled lawyers had requested before the pandemic.

A survey of over 100 disabled lawyers, launched by the Law Society of England and Wales in partnership with the Legally Disabled Research Team based at Cardiff University, found working from home during the Covid-19 outbreak enabled the majority of respondents to manage their disability more effectively. 70% of those surveyed would prefer to continue working remotely in the long-term.

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Spotlight on disability

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We are pleased to feature in the Costs Lawyer Standards Board newsletter with an overview of the research that we published in January.

Newsletters are a great way to reach your members and get disability inclusion on their radar. We welcome contact from disabled people, staff groups, potential disability champions, HR teams, stakeholders or leaders in the legal profession who might benefit from sharing knowledge and gaining further insights from our research.

Please get in touch if you’d like us to provide a guest blog post for your website or publication.

Keep a lookout for our upcoming report on the impact of Covid-19 on disabled lawyers, launching on Monday the 2nd November.

Breakfast Briefing, 30th September

poster for the breakfast briefing

Will the new ‘normal’ be a disability-inclusive working environment?

Join Professor Debbie Foster and her Research Partners as they ask whether the new ‘normal’ be a disability-inclusive working environment, on Wednesday 30th September from 8.30-9.30am.
We will discuss emerging findings from our survey conducted in partnership with The Law Society during the first Covid lockdown, exploring disabled lawyers experiences of home-working.

Follow the link for more information and to register your place.

Covid19 and disabled lawyers survey

Cardiff University and The Law Society logos

The Law Society in partnership with the Legally Disabled Project, has launched a survey to gather experiences of disabled people in the legal profession both during lockdown and post-lockdown. We’ll be using the insights gathered to inform best practice for the future and to evidence aspects of remote working that could benefit disabled people in the long term.

If you’re a disabled solicitor or trainee take the survey and share your experiences and thoughts on remote working during the pandemic. The closing date for survey returns is Sunday 16 August.

https://cardiff.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/covid19-disabled-lawyers

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Disabled lawyers? A conversation

Professor Debbie Foster, who leads the ‘Legally Disabled?’ project took part in a fascinating conversation with Prof Fiona Kumari Campbell from the University of Dundee.

Professor Fiona Kumari Campbell is an interdisciplinary scholar-activist and is Professor of Disability and Ableism Studies in the School of Education & Social Work, University of Dundee. She runs the #Ruminations about Ableism series.

Professor Debbie Foster is a Professor of Employment Relations & Diversity, Cardiff Business School, Wales.

This conversation discussed the development and outcomes of the Legally Disabled? research and the impact of ableism on disabled people in the legal profession.

Disability in the legal profession – Roundtables

legally disabled roundtable events easy wins and action points for the legal profession

Disability in the legal profession – Roundtables to discuss the current position and where we go from here

We have been working with The Law Society and its Lawyers with Disabilities Division since the launch of our research to share the research findings and develop guidance to support organisations with implementing the recommendations from the ‘Legally Disabled?’ report. See here for an update on the work done so far.

Our survey of solicitors and paralegals found 60% had experienced ill-treatment in the workplace and of these 80% believed it was related to disability.

In a series of roundtables run jointly with The Law Society and its Lawyers with Disabilities Division, we will provide a practical and constructive overview of the research findings and recommendations. This will be followed by a discussion about actions and ‘easy wins’ to support firms and organisations to identify opportunities and challenges for improving disability inclusion.

 

In the present circumstances, all roundtables will be on Zoom:

Monday 11 May                      12.30 – 14.00

Friday 22 May                         12.30 – 14.00

Wednesday 27 May             9.30 – 11.00

Tuesday 2 June                      16.00 – 17.30

Due to demand, we have added two more dates:

Tuesday 16 June                    12.30 – 14.00

Wednesday 24 June            16.00 – 17.30

If you would like to attend, please email

lawyerswithdisabilities@LawSociety.org.uk  specifying which roundtable and let us know if you have any access requirements.

In due course, we will send out the joining instructions for the Zoom call.

 

For those wishing to read the research reports prior to the event, both the full report and the executive summary of findings and recommendations can be downloaded here:

http://legallydisabled.com/research-reports/

The reports are launched!

View of the main entrance of the British Academy

Head straight over to our research reports page to download the reports and press release for today’s launch of our research findings.

Over two years of work has gone into this, involving hundreds of people.

Our thanks go to all involved, we are delighted to be able to share our findings and recommendations at our conference today.

Research Reports