New report launch: Covid-19

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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12th March 2020

Barriers to employment

What barriers to employment are faced by disabled candidates?

Guest blog by Jane Hatton – Evenbreak

The research ‘The Career Experiences of Disabled People in the Legal Profession: Future Strategies for Inclusion and Change’ made interesting reading to me. Particularly as it resonated very strongly with the results from some research that we have been carrying out simultaneously.

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24th June 201919th July 2019

Launch of Barristers’ questionnaire

screenshot of the questionnaire for disabled barristers

Are you a disabled person, or someone with a long-term medical condition working in, aspiring to work in (e.g. in training), or retired from the Bar? If so, this research is for you.

We are pleased to launch the next stage of the research with a questionnaire for disabled people training for or working as Barristers. This also includes those who have since left these roles in the profession.

Click here to fill in the survey for barristers.

Update: the extended deadline for responses is 23rd July 2019.

A separate questionnaire for solicitors and paralegals is also available. This is due to the different qualification routes and workplace experiences.

If it is more appropriate to fill in the questionnaire for solicitors and paralegals please click here. If you are unsure as to which is best suited for you, please contact Dr Natasha Hirst on HirstN2@cardiff.ac.uk

The purpose of the research is to produce the first large scale evidence base on the career experiences of disabled people across the legal profession. This will build on and quantify the evidence obtained from one to one interviews.

We anticipate that it will take approximately 20 to 25 minutes to complete the questionnaire. It can also be saved part way and finished off later. You have the option to skip questions or answer ‘not applicable’ as appropriate to you.

If you have any queries or require the questionnaire in a word document or other accessible format please get in touch with Dr Natasha Hirst on HirstN2@cardiff.ac.uk

Please note that both researchers are part-time on the project and will respond as soon as possible to any queries.

2nd June 201927th June 2019

Launch of Solicitor’s Questionnaire

screenshot of the web page for the Legally Disabled questionnaire for solicitors

Are you a disabled person, or someone with a long-term medical condition working in, aspiring to work in (e.g. in training), or retired from the legal profession? If so, this research is for you.

We are pleased to launch the next stage of the research with a questionnaire for disabled people training for or working as solicitors and paralegals. This also includes those who have since left these roles in the profession.

UPDATE: The deadline for response has been extended to 7th July 2019.

Click here to fill in the questionnaire for solicitors and paralegals.

UPDATE: The deadline for response has been extended to 7th July 2019.

We anticipate that it will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. It can also be saved part way and finished off later. You have the option to skip questions or answer ‘not applicable’ as appropriate to you.

A separate questionnaire for Barristers has also been launched. This is due to the very different qualification routes and workplace experiences. If you are unsure as to which is best suited for you, please contact Dr Natasha Hirst on HirstN2@cardiff.ac.uk

Click here to fill in the survey for barristers.

If you have any queries or require the questionnaire in a word document or other accessible format please get in touch with Dr Natasha Hirst on HirstN2@cardiff.ac.uk

Please note that both researchers are part-time on the project and will respond as soon as possible to any queries.

25th December 201825th December 2018

Season’s Greetings!

Project update

As we send our best wishes to everyone over the Christmas holidays, here is a quick progress update.

Following a successful series of focus groups and over fifty five one-to-one interviews, we are delighted to update you on the progress of the research.

Eight focus groups took place early in 2018 in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham with disabled legal professionals including paralegals, solicitors, barristers, judges, trainees and retirees.

We recently completed the second stage of the project – one to one interviews. These explored individual experiences in more depth. We are currently finalising the analysis of the interviews to draw out the key research themes. There is so much useful information from the interviews!

What next?

Over the first few weeks of 2019, the report on the initial findings of the research will be drafted. A questionnaire will also be developed and disseminated as widely as possible to identify how common certain experiences are for disabled legal professionals.

Later in the year we will hold a conference to share and discuss the findings of the research.

A Research Reference Group consisting of disabled legal professionals from a diversity of backgrounds have supported us with the ongoing development and implementation of the project.

Thank you to all who have taken part in the interviews and focus groups. Your openness about your experiences has been incredibly valuable and will enable us to produce a report and recommendations that we hope will have an impact on improving how the legal professional includes disabled people.

We’d love to talk to you!

If your group, network or firm would like us to come along and discuss our findings over the Spring and Summer please do get in touch. We also value all support that you can give with sharing the questionnaire and research findings as we progress the project.

Many more people have expressed an interest in being involved in other ways. If you haven’t already been in touch and you’d like to be involved, you can reach us on info@legallydisabled.com

Please take a look around the website to find out how you can participate and follow the progress of the work.

11th June 2018

“Significant barriers for disabled legal professionals”

a dictaphone and pen sits on a spiral bound notepad

“Legally Disabled?” finds significant barriers for disabled legal professionals

Press release 5th June 2018

Professor Debbie Foster of Cardiff University Business School and independent researcher Dr Natasha Hirst are conducting groundbreaking research into the experiences of disabled people in the legal profession. The independent research is funded by DRILL (Disability Research into Independent Living and Learning), which delivers the world’s first major research programme led by disabled people.

Key Findings:

Initial findings from focus groups of disabled legal professionals highlight a mixed bag of experiences:

Continue reading ““Significant barriers for disabled legal professionals””

25th May 2018

Interview participants needed!

'are you a disabled person working in the legal profession? We are exploring the experiences of disabled people working, who have worked or are seeking work in the legal profession. Get in touch to find out more info@legallydisabled.com

Are you a disabled legal professional?

We are embarking on the interview stage of our research, involving individual, one-to-one interviews. These can be conducted face-to-face, by phone or by Skype and may take between 1 to 2 hours. We can factor in breaks and work to times that suit your requirements.

We are seeking to interview people with impairments or health conditions, from different areas of the legal profession. This includes those who have qualified but can’t secure work or training contracts, those working in the profession and those who have since left.

Please get in touch on info@legallydisabled.com if you would like to put yourself forward for interview or wish to find out more.

20th December 201726th January 2018

2018 Focus Group dates announced

Focus Groups around England and Wales

Focus Groups help us to understand the key issues impacting on disabled legal professionals and will shape the direction of our research.

Following a successful series of focus groups in 2017, we are delighted to announce further opportunities to take part in the research.

The 2018 Focus Groups for all disabled legal professionals will be:

Birmingham 12th February, 12.30 – 2pm

Cardiff 9th February, 1 – 2.30pm and 16th February, 2 – 3.30pm

Manchester 26th February 5 – 6.30pm

London (Barristers and Clerks only) 2nd and 19th February, 4.30pm – 6pm

Continue reading “2018 Focus Group dates announced”

23rd October 201715th November 2017

Focus Group Dates

These groups are crucial to help us to gain a better insight into the issues that you have faced throughout your career so that we can start to shape our research questions.

We will provide a number of prompts to stimulate discussion to explore the experiences of disabled people and people with health conditions (including mental health) across the legal profession.

Focus Groups will be run in co-operation with the LDD
Each session 1.5 hours maximum
Groups of two to ten people
Chatham House Rules – confidentiality respected
Held in accessible venues around England and Wales
All focus groups facilitated by disabled people

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15th October 201718th September 2018

Who can participate?

Who are we including?

We are exploring the experiences of disabled people and people with impairments or health conditions (including mental health) working in the legal profession. We seek to make the research as representative as possible. You may or may not consider yourself to be disabled but take a look at our page explaining different definitions of disability and see whether the research could apply to you.

The lists below are not exhaustive, if in doubt about whether your experiences or career fits our research, please get in touch!

This research includes:

Solicitors
Barristers
Legal executives
Clerks
Those who are qualified but unemployed
Lawyers who were once employed in the legal profession but have since left (and during the time employed, were disabled)

Continue reading “Who can participate?”