We know that there are even fewer Deaf lawyers undertaking advocacy in tribunals and court.

I’m one of them. As an employment solicitor, I undertake advocacy in the Employment Tribunal on a regular basis.

Now, bear in mind that I’m profoundly Deaf and my first language is English as opposed to say BSL. I am a fluent BSL user, equally comfortable with spoken English. However, I’d be the first to admit that I do not have perfect speech; I’ve never actually *heard* a word so go figure. My voice is rather high pitched, and I tend to trip over my words from time to time or mulch all the words into one big mush as I don’t allow time to elocute-each-word-fully.

A weird byproduct of my “imperfect” speech is that some people understand me, and some don’t. I find I’m sometimes able to identify who falls into these categories: females in the former, and males in the latter; individuals who know how to LISTEN and those who don’t.

So, I undertake tribunal advocacy with imperfect speech. I hear you say: “that’s easy! Just use BSL!”. Well, yes, I could, but that would mean translating complex legal principles etc. into BSL and then hoping, just hoping, that the interpreter will be able to grasp the legal principle as well as the point I’m making, and voice over that in a way that is appropriate for such a situation i.e. formal language with legalese thrown in.

Are there actually any interpreters out there able to do this for me? And can they go to each tribunal regardless of location within England and Wales to do exactly that? I doubt it.

So, therein lies the problem. How does one solve it? Answers on a postcard please.

Apparently, where I’ve been going wrong is to discuss both supervision AND management issues in a supervision session. This begs the question: “what’s the difference between the two?!”.

Management issues are the usual run of the mill, day to day things like annual leave, toil, outreach, general admin etc., whereas supervision should be focusing on the individual supervisee; their wellbeing, personal development and training, feedback from clients – both positive and negative – and have to be linked to the organisation’s overall strategic objectives. Phew!

I’m on another course today, “Non-employment discrimination”, so a return to more “legal” matters!

Back (L-R): Desmond Masterson, Laura Eadsforth, Daniel Webster, me, Shaunett Harris, Riccardo Hoyte.
Front (L-R): Amanda Everitt, Rose Hawes, Paul Lennon, Lianne Lusty.

This photo was taken at the RAD Staff Conference on 5 June 2009.

The Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) are proud to announce the launch of a pilot specialist casework service in British Sign Language (BSL) via the Internet to eligible clients. RAD Legal Services has been working in partnership with the LSC and online interpreting service provider Significan’t Ltd to develop the service, which will go live on 22 September 2008.

Deaf BSL users living in England and Wales with a low income or receiving benefits will be able to obtain free and confidential legal advice through a webcam with a broadband connection. Caseworkers are fluent in BSL, and will provide specialist advice at Community Legal Service Specialist Quality Mark level.

Advice topics will be phased in stages, starting with Welfare Benefits from September 2008. Employment will follow from November 2008, Housing from January 2009 and Debt from March 2009.

William Hayden, Development Manager, Direct Services, at the LSC, said, “The Community Legal Advice (CLA) helpline is currently inaccessible to Deaf BSL users and therefore the CLA is not meeting its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. They are acutely aware that they have a gap in their services. Nevertheless, with the development of new types of technology such as video communications and the Internet, there are now fresh opportunities to dramatically improve access to the CLA for Deaf people.”

Jeff McWhinney, Chief Executive of Significan’t, said, “RAD is the first organisation in the UK to utilise TokBox technology – developed and used in the United States – to deliver legal advice online. Significan’t are proud to work with the RAD to turn this technology into a reality and benefit Deaf people seeking legal advice and support in the UK.”

Tom Fenton, Chief Executive of RAD said “This is a unique opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness specialist advice in BSL via the Internet. It will provide evidence of the need for access to legal services for Deaf people.”

For further information visit www.radlegalservices.org.uk.

Media enquiries – contact:

Lorna Bareham
Marketing & PR Administrator
Royal Association for Deaf people
18 Westside Centre
London Road
Stanway, Colchester
CO3 8PH
Email: lorna.bareham@royaldeaf.org.uk

Go here to view my details.

• Attended professional conduct and suitability hearings;
• Compiled ET1s, ET3s;
• Drafted lists of documents, letters of advice, notification of disciplinary hearings and suspensions, grievances, sex, disability and race questionnaires, instructions to counsel;
• Produced training materials; and
• Drafted policies, contracts of employment, procedures, guidance notes, and articles for publication;

You may wonder what I’m doing next. Basically, I will be returning to the Royal Association for Deaf People full-time, continuing my role as a Casework Supervisor, but also developing RAD’s Legal Services, and taking on fee-earning work.

It really struck home recently on how near I am to qualifying, as I received a letter from the Solicitors Regulation Authority at, which is independent of the Law Society, asking me to complete a CRB application form, so that I may be admitted to the roll of solicitors. It has to be completed 6-8 weeks prior to my intended admission date, which will be 28 May 2007.

Getting to this stage has taken me six years, two of those were taken up with hard studies at UWE and Cardiff, and then I became an Advice Worker at RAD, a role that continued until 28 November 2005, which was when I started my secondment/training contract at South West London Law Centres. Strictly speaking, I have two roles at RAD. As well as being a trainee solicitor, I’m also a casework supervisor, supervising the casework of six members of staff, as well as four members of staff at deafPLUS. This basically entails the provision of information about various issues, advising advisers on how to deal with difficult clients or situations, and conducting regular file reviews of cases, to assess whether the advice being provided is comprehensive and of sufficient quality.

However, as I wanted more experience in employment law, I arranged a further secondment to Hugh James Solicitors, in their Employment and HR Services department in Cardiff. I have learnt a lot in the short time I have been there, and with each day, I’m more confident about working in private practice as an Employment Solicitor.

My aim is to secure a job as an Employment Solicitor post May 2007, in a private practice firm in either Cardiff or Bristol. I have been put forward for a number of posts, and I am still waiting to hear whether I will be offered an interview. So watch this space.

All in all, it’s quite an exciting period of my life, in that I don’t know what’s going to happen to me this year. Will I continue working for RAD as a qualified solicitor? Will I be leaving RAD and become fully immersed into the private sector? Where will I be working?

It was a real eye-opener. The attitudes of the staff there was appalling; their lack of communication skills and common courtesy was disappointing. Although I wasn’t an asylum seeker or an immigrant seeking support from the Home Office, I felt like a third class citizen. That’s right, a British citizen felt like a third-class citizen. If I felt like that, how do you think asylum seekers and immigrants feel when they attend the IND?

There are permanent queue lanes set at the entrance to the IND, while under cover, exposed to the elements. Today saw gale force winds, and they were hurling through the queue lanes, where we were waiting for about 30 minutes. At least we didn’t get wet. Surely it wouldn’t be too much trouble to have queue lanes inside a building? At least it would be warmer. What if it had been a typical winter’s day, with temperatures close to freezing?

Once inside, my client, the interpreter and myself had to undergo no less than three security checks. Yes, THREE. Although understandable given the volatile nature of the work of the IND and the current political climate, three does seem a little excessive.

Once through to the Asylum Unit, my client had to wait about 45 minutes before being seen by an officer. That was fair enough given that there were quite a few asylum seekers in the waiting area. When we got to the counter, which was glass screened and communication through a microphone and speakers, the officer didn’t introduce herself, and didn’t have a welcoming or polite manner. It was straight to the questions, of which there were several, and long pauses in between as she 1) typed very slowly the information onto her terminal, 2) talked to colleagues, and 3) answered her mobile phone. She was fully aware that the interpreter was only booked until 12.30pm, but this didn’t seem to faze her in the least, even though the Home Office were unable to provide a BSL/English Interpreter for the rest of the session with the client.

Typically, an initial interview for an asylum seeker lasts four to five hours. I’m not surprised, given the speed at which the officer worked. There are minimal facilities, with one vending machine. At least there were toilets. The seats are made of plastic and very uncomfortable. Coupled with staff’s rudeness and bluntness, it was hardly a good advert for living in the UK.

What really gets my goat about all this is the fact that the general British public think that the Government is soft on immigration. Rubbish. My perception of the immigration system in the UK, given that I’m a Level 1 OISC registered immigration adviser, is that it’s bloody tough and unforgiving. One case I recall basically showed that, if your adviser is shit at their job, and your initial application fails for that reason, you haven’t got much chance of succeeding later on, even though it’s not your fault. The Home Office is like a huge elephant, it remembers EVERYTHING. Therefore, the initial application will prejudice later applications. The system is a myriad of complicated rules and regulations, and is bloody difficult for advisers to get to grips with, let alone those subject to the system.

Let’s all wake up and smell the coffee; immigration in the UK is bloody tough. Don’t let the media and television tell you otherwise. Better still, go look at the Immigration Rules on the IND website. Now tell me that it’s easy to come and live in the UK.

After spending 3.5 years in London, the Robster is now home for good.  You will have noticed from the Announcements to the right of this page that I will start a secondment from RAD at Hugh James in Cardiff from 2 January 2007, which means that I am no longer based in London.

Over the last two days, the missus and I have driven 386 miles in a hired car to and from London to move my stuff home from Laura and Oliver’s house, where I’ve lodged since June 2006.  We also threw in a West End show, Les Miserables, with Stagetext as well, and a nice meal in Chinatown.

The house is a tip now, so will be spending most of today sorting out my things.  Bloody pain!

But, at least I’m home!

(L-R: Rob, Sumita, Ricky, Laura, Mangai and Daniel)