News

The Association will be represented by our Chair, Daniel, at the launch of Bringing Dis(Ability) to the Bar.

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Bringing [Dis]Ability to the Bar (BDABar) aims to open up the legal profession and dismantle the barriers that disabled aspiring barristers face when accessing the Bar. 

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The BDABar Launch is a great opportunity to find out more about the organisation, its structure, what it wants to achieve, and how it aims to support and advocate for disabled aspiring barristers.

The Launch Event will take place on Friday, 28th January 2022 at 5:30 pm via Zoom!

The Association is troubled and disheartened with the handling of Bar Professional Training Course students sitting the centralised exams in August. We are deeply concerned that these adverse measures undermine equality and diversity efforts at the Bar. Disabled students and students with health conditions have been disadvantaged and left behind.

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Please click on the link below to access the statement in full.

Daniel talks to the BBC about how his speech impairment has been seen as an issue but that he will fight to work in the only career that has ever interested him.

The Association was represented by our Chair, Daniel, at Applying for Pupillage as a Disabled* Person or Person with Physical and Mental Health Conditions.

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This event was organised by AllBar, a new network supporting disability at the Bar, in collaboration with the Association of Disabled Lawyers, Barristers with Lived Experience of Mental Illness (BLEMI), Bringing (Dis)ability to the Bar, and was administered by 39 Essex Chambers.

We discussed the particular issues facing pupillage applicants who are disabled or have a physical or mental health condition, and how to best navigate them. Our panel covered the whole process from what to include in written pupillage applications through to reasonable adjustments at interviews.

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The speakers were:

Sarah Philimore

Konstantina Nouka

Daniel Holt

Christopher Bates

Carl Harrison (Questions Panel)

Rebecca Griffiths (Questions Panel)

Christina Warner (Questions Panel)

James Ekin (Questions Panel)

Daniel's slides are available below.

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* We used disabled here as defined in the Equality Act 2010: a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Our founder, Daniel Holt, spoke to Mala Patel, a solicitor at Bolt Burdon Kemp, about his journey to the Bar.

The Association welcomes the Bar Standards Board’s independent review of the August 2020 Bar Professional Training Course examinations. 

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The review was conducted by Professor Rebecca Huxley-Binns and Dr Sarabajaya Kumar. Professor Huxley-Binns is the University of Hull’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Dr Kumar is a Lecturer in Voluntary Sector Policy and Leadership at University College London and an equalities adviser to the BSB.

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Please click on the link below to access our response.

Daniel was featured in a Legal Cheek article, which covers his aspirations of being a barrister and for more diversity at the Bar.