Legally Disabled?: The Career Experiences of Disabled People in the Legal Profession (January 2020) identified that the most requested (and refused) reasonable adjustment for disabled lawyers was remote or home working.
COVID-19 necessitated everyone working in this way and this is predicted to continue. It has meant new opportunities for disabled people and the profession to shape a more inclusive working environment. The Law Society and its Lawyers with Disabilities Division commissioned the same researchers (Professor Debbie Foster and Dr Natasha Hirst) to carry out further research to capture people’s experiences.
On 2 November, they will be launching the findings of this further research, entitled ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the employment and training of disabled lawyers in England and Wales: opportunities for job-redesign and best practice’. This is a chance for all those individuals and organisations interested in improving not only disability inclusion to learn what has worked, what has not and what could be done better. You will hear how to improve working practices in future lockdowns and beyond, and how the Law Society intends to use the results of the research in its ongoing work.
This launch will be followed by a series of roundtables to explore in more detail some of the findings. There will also be an opportunity to share with us your experiences in what is an ever evolving new working environment. We want to know what has worked and what has not and how can we integrate what we have learnt to create more inclusive organisations, relationships and practices in the long term?
Please email lawyerswithdisabilities@lawsociety.org.uk if you would like to attend either of the following:
- Tuesday 17 November (12.30–14.00)
- Thursday 26 November (12.30–14.00)
The launch event will cover
- The findings of research into disabled people’ experiences of COVID-19 and lockdown
- Examples of good practice
- What has not worked or could be done better
- Reasonable adjustments in future lockdowns and generally
- Further proposed work on disability inclusion
There will be an opportunity to ask questions to the researchers and the Law Society’s Lawyers with Disabilities Division and Diversity & Inclusion team.
Learning outcomes
From this event, you will learn:
- How to make your organisation more inclusive for disabled people
- What other organisations are doing
- How to input into future work of the Law Society
Programme
12.30–12.35 Welcome
12.35–12.40 President of the Law Society’s opening remarks
12.40–13.20 Research findings
13.20–13.35 Q&A on findings
13.35–13.45 Easy wins, next steps and future work
13.45–13.55 Q&A
13.55–14.00 Closing remarks
Speakers
- David Greene, President of the Law Society and Senior Partner at Edwin Coe
- Professor Debbie Foster, Professor of employment relations and diversity at Cardiff University
- Dr Natasha Hirst, Independent disability researcher
- Jane Burton, Chair of the Law Society’s Lawyers with Disabilities Division
- Chris Seel, Diversity and Inclusion adviser at the Law Society
Sign up for the event here.
Comments