By Jonathan Rayner


Law firms face a 'wake-up' call on their disability practices as momentum gathered last week for a sector-wide investigation of the profession by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).



The Group for Solicitors with Disabilities (GSD) said firms may find themselves facing an 'equality audit' which, if failed, could expose them to prosecution under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.



It could also disqualify firms from acting for public bodies, which must implement the 'general duty' to promote disability equality within their organisations.



Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, EHRC commissioner and chairwoman of its disability committee, told delegates at the GSD annual conference that the committee would champion all disability issues - including any future 'sectoral investigation into the legal profession.' A spokesman for her office added: 'The commission would use its enforcement powers to guarantee equality where necessary.'



GSD vice-chairman David Merkel said he would welcome any EHRC equality audit. 'It would be a wake-up call to the profession and to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA),' he said.



GSD chairwoman Sue Maynard Campbell added: 'There are just 453 practising certificate holders with a registered disability and yet, according to national statistics, there should be 10,000 or more as a proportion of the country's 120,000 solicitors. Are disabled solicitors hiding their condition or simply not getting on the career ladder?'



Some Legal Practice Course (LPC) providers also came under fire at the conference. Speaking from the floor, retired judge and GSD secretary Sir John Wall - the first blind judge since the 18th Century - called some providers 'bloody-minded' in refusing to allow disabled students 'reasonable adjustments' such as extra time to do their coursework.



Emma Whewell, senior law lecturer at the University of the West of England, said prospective students were encouraged to disclose any disability on their application forms so that the faculty could, where practical, make reasonable adjustments before the course started. When students made the disclosure after enrolment, the law school worked with them to find solutions, she said.



SRA education and training manager Tim Pearce said it monitored LPC providers and had recently informed them of their responsibilities to disabled students. 'There is no excuse for confusion,' he added.