Opening doors

The Law Society’s diversity scheme is in its second year, providing access to legal education to those held back by medical, financial or other circumstances. Grania Langdon-Down profiles the beneficiaries

At the age of 23, Amanda Rogers broke her neck in a fall down a flight of stairs while sleepwalking. She was left paralysed from her armpits down, with only limited use of her arms and hands.

But, nine years later, her determination in graduating with a first-class honours law degree from the Open University has won her a scholarship from the Law Society’s diversity access scheme, enabling her to start a part-time legal practice course (LPC) at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

She is one of 12 remarkable people who have come a step closer to achieving their dream of becoming solicitors through the Law Society scheme, now in its second year. Sponsored by the Law Society Charity, the College of Law and BPP, it provides either free places on the LPC or grants for the next stage of their legal training.

This year’s winners are a range of people who, due to medical, financial or cultural constraints, have been unable to undertake further education.

Ms Rogers, now 33, says: ‘This is a fantastic scheme and it should make law firms think about their own diversity, as too often they don’t realise what people who are disabled or have had to overcome difficult circumstances have to offer.

‘I am currently looking for a training contract and am in the throes of getting some voluntary work with a local charity, which helps people with mortgages and repossessions, to gain some experience. Ideally, I would like to do a part-time training contract while I am doing the LPC to gear me up for full-time practice when I qualify. It won’t be easy but I wouldn’t have come this far if I didn’t think I could do the job.

‘Eventually I would like to teach law but I am not sure you make a good teacher if you haven’t had practical experience first.’

Michael, now 37, would not have been able to start the common professional examination (CPE) without the grant. Fifteen years ago, aged just 22, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He had been expected to go to university in his hometown of Perth, Western Australia, but the shock caused him to lose all direction. ‘Everything fell to pieces. I just did odd jobs until I came to London in 1993. I wanted to see the world and live what life I had left to the full. But there was also an element of running away; I thought I could leave my problems behind – but I just brought them with me.’

By 1998, ill health had forced him to stop working. Debts mounted, he was kicked out of his flat and his local council refused his homeless application. ‘Everything unravelled,’ he remembers. But he was then referred to well-known housing lawyer Wendy Backhouse, then a partner with north London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen and now a district judge. She took up his case and, after a nine-month fight, got the council to offer him permanent accommodation.

Michael, initially in temporary bed-and-breakfast accommodation, enrolled on an Open University course to take his mind off his situation. With new drugs helping to improve his health, he slowly started getting his life back together, graduating with a BSc honours and a diploma in information technology.

‘Being referred to Wendy was a real turning point in my life, and it gave me a very real appreciation of the law. I had the typical view that law was all about punishment and retribution, crime or big business. But I saw what a positive impact and influence it can have on people’s lives.

‘Having built up my confidence through the Open University, I thought I could become a solicitor and do something that would be challenging and also could give me the opportunity to perhaps help someone in the way that Wendy helped me.’

But without the grant for the CPE, he could never have taken up the course, having exhausted every other avenue for loans. ‘I can’t even think about the LPC yet. I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it,’ says Michael.

‘Schemes like this are so important. I looked round at the other students at the presentation ceremony and heard their stories, and thought how many barriers they have had to overcome in their determination to join the legal profession, which is still seen as very privileged. The students on my course are from all sorts of backgrounds and ages, but the real test of how diverse the profession is prepared to be will come when we try to find training contracts.’

Twenty-two year-old Nihar Punj has been profoundly deaf since birth and has had to fight against people underestimating her abilities. ‘The shift from the small intimate environment of school to the large campus university of the London School of Economics was a tremendous disruption. I was fortunate to have access to a note-taker in my final year at the LSE, which was invaluable, and I was very happy to graduate with a 2:1.’

Her award means she will now be able to study for the LPC at BPP. She accepts that it will be a challenge convincing prospective law firms of her capacity to be a successful solicitor. ‘Their primary concerns have been that I will miss out on what is being said in large meetings and that I do not use the telephone. But these are minor obstacles, which are easily overcome with technology.

‘My internship at the legal department of Barclays Global Investors convinced me that commercial law was the right niche for me. Although I was primarily concerned with the interests of one client, the breadth of actual law involved – including intellectual property law, banking and contract – was amazing. So I am seeking a training contract with a commercial law firm, with its guaranteed exposure to a broad range of clients from different industries and different jurisdictions.’

Ms Punj says that, because the scholarships are awarded purely on merit, it should help her peers and employers recognise the capabilities of deaf people. ‘Hearing loss need not stop you achieving personal and professional goals,’ she says.

She hopes more scholarships will become available in the future. ‘A little support goes a long way in boosting someone’s confidence and encouraging disabled people to achieve their dreams.’

Niaomi Roberts, who is 23, is also delighted with her award. Her mother died suddenly while she was studying for her law degree at Sheffield University, leaving her and her elder sister to look after their seven-year-old sibling.

Now she can concentrate on the LPC at Manchester Metropolitan University without the added worry of its cost. ‘I really wanted to get into a profession where I would be challenged intellectually, but where I could also use my skills to help people.’

For the past year, she has been acting as a voluntary appropriate adult for the Greater Manchester Police Authority – helping vulnerable people during their interviews with the police – which has given her an insight into how the police work. She says she would like to be a role model for her local ethnic minority community, showing people that the law can work for them and correcting the impression that it works against them.

Ms Roberts adds: ‘It has been difficult these last few years, but when I went to the award ceremony and saw the sort of difficulties some of the others faced, it made me appreciate the good things about my situation. My family may not be able to provide financial support but their emotional support means a lot more to me.’

The thoughtfulness and resolve of the 12 are deeply impressive. As Janet Paraskeva, the Law Society’s chief executive, said: ‘The legal profession will be enriched by their contribution.’

Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance journalist

The other award winners

• Chesterfield-based Juliette Frangos is a single parent. She studied for her law degree part-time, while bringing up her children. She says she has been inspired by her upbringing in a socially deprived area where crime is an accepted way of life. Ms Frangos is predominantly interested in a law career in the not-for-profit sector, though she wants to experience and work in other areas too. She would like to retain a level of community involvement and has been a volunteer at Chesterfield Law Centre for the past two years.

• Luisa Volpe is a single parent with three children, and has a mobility disability following a road accident. She moved to England from Italy and lives with her family in west London. In England, she found she could study for a law degree with the Open University, and began her course in 2002. Ms Volpe is also training as a general adviser at Westminster Citizens Advice Bureau and is a qualified witness support volunteer at West London Magistrates’ Court.

• Rashid Warsame was awarded both a law degree and a master’s degree in human rights. But since leaving university, Mr Warsame, who lives in east London, has not been able to find work due to his disability; he had polio as a child, which left him with impaired mobility in his right leg. He lives on income support and disability living allowance, which means he does not have enough money to continue his studies to qualify as a solicitor by undertaking the LPC. Banks would not consider him for a loan, so this scholarship is his only hope of completing his studies and finally becoming a solicitor.

• Akalikai Sivarajah was born in Sri Lanka, has brittle bone disease and is a wheelchair user. Having had no formal education in Sri Lanka, she taught herself to read at an early age. She came to London aged 16 with her father, her mother having died when she was three years old. When her father also died, Ms Sivarajah was left to manage her personal care and education alone, even though English was not her first language. Ms Sivarajah, who now lives in south London, completed a law degree after only eight years of formal education and without any parental support. She was inspired to pursue a legal career by her father’s work as a public representative in Sri Lanka, where he helped people fight for their civil rights.

• Karen Cronin is a single parent with two children who lives in north London. She has suffered financial hardship in supporting her family while continuing to study and work. She is passionate about having a legal career but without financial backing will not be able to complete the final stages of her training.

• Obiageli Omu is Nigerian and has sickle cell disease. Her education has been constantly disrupted by pain and time in hospital. It is a life-threatening illness and her sister died as a result of this condition. Despite the interruptions to her studies, she obtained a 2:1 English degree and wants to study the CPE. Ms Omu, who lives in London, is now on new medication which means she is healthier than ever before and is determined that her illness will not prevent her from becoming a lawyer.

• A young Asian woman, who asked not to be named, failed to reach her full potential at school and was forbidden, for cultural reasons, from studying after school, in spite of a passion for learning. After marrying, she managed to study for a degree – obtaining a 2:1 in law while raising three children. Her husband has also been ill, meaning the family has suffered financial problems, so sponsorship is the only way she will be able to study for the LPC.

• Another young woman from west Sussex, who prefers not to be named, has a visual impairment that has made studying difficult. She is unable to read small print and so has to have her work converted into an electronic format. It also takes her longer to read and she experiences severe headaches and double vision.