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DisabilityDRILLProjectResearch

Scoping begins!

25 September 2017
The Lawyers with Disabilities Division of the Law Society having a meeting
The Lawyers with Disabilities Division of the Law Society © Natasha Hirst

“Legally Disabled” makes an exciting start

Prof Debbie Foster and Dr Natasha Hirst formally launched the “Legally Disabled” research project at the September executive meeting of the Lawyers with Disabilities Division (LDD) at the Law Society in London.

The project has been given huge support and the great enthusiasm of project partners at the LDD has helped the project get off to the best possible start. The research is funded by the DRILL Programme (Disability Research into Independent Living and Learning), a four nations project providing grants across the UK for research designed and delivered in coproduction between disabled people and academics or researchers.

With Cardiff University as the lead on this 18 month project, all researchers on the project are disabled people and the key project partner, the LDD consists of disabled lawyers. Together we are starting the process of scoping the research themes and discussing the role of the Research Reference Group.

What’s next?

The next stage will see the Research Reference Group up and running to oversee the direction of the research and within the next few months we will hold a series of focus groups with disabled lawyers from around England and Wales.

The focus groups will enable us to identify the key issues that influence how disabled people progress their careers within law. What are the barriers in different areas of law and what solutions are there to creating a more inclusive and accessible career pathway?

Keep checking the blog for project updates!