A national charity has launched an action plan to help law students with disabilities overcome barriers to pursuing a legal career such as going to the ‘wrong sort of university’.

Some 21,350 first-year undergraduates declared a disability in 2007, with law students making up 12% – or 2,560 – of this intake. This was the key statistic cited by Jane Sherry, employer and graduate services manager at Employment Opportunities (EO), at last week’s Legal Forum: Disability as a Dimension of Diversity seminar.

Sherry said EO was joining with careers information publisher GTI to extend the reach of law students with disabilities from all social backgrounds. ‘They face challenges enough without the perceived stigma of a degree from the wrong sort of university.’ She added it was to everyone’s advantage to expand the talent pool.

Forum host Tina Two, human resources director at the London office of US law firm K&L Gates, said the profession was increasingly diverse – but that more must be done. ‘(National firm) Eversheds and ourselves are the only law firms working closely with EO,’ she claimed.