[blindlaw] Introduction from a new member

Tai Tomasi ttomasi at driowa.org
Thu Jun 7 20:15:20 UTC 2018


Graham:

Welcome to the list. I am eager to hear from more senior attorneys on these questions. Your mention of going to court with an assistant reminded me of something I have been meaning to discuss. 

Recently, Scott LaBarre, an attorney who runs his own practice, stated that he goes to court without a paralegal. I understand that doing this demonstrates the competence of blind attorneys. As a fairly new attorney, I am hesitant to go to court without an assistant for fear that I might have difficulty accessing a print document in the file that, for whatever reason, is not accessible from my computer. Although it should not occur, I worry that a document will be presented that I have not read prior to the hearing. Scott and others, how do you protect your client and yourself from this situation? I would not want my client to question my competence as an attorney because I am unable to access a hard copy or inaccessible electronic document at hearing. I have tried many apps and have not found a solution that allows accurate optical character recognition (OCR) on the go. Furthermore, I am not always able to read every electronic document that comes into my office because OCR can only do so much. As an attorney at a nonprofit law firm, I do not have access to staff who can proof documents and make them 100 percent accessible to a screen reader. As a proponent of both assistive technology and low-tech solutions such as a sighted reader, I would appreciate blind attorneys' thoughts on these issues. Many of my clients must travel from afar for administrative hearings and I would hate to have to postpone a proceeding due to accessibility issues. Thank you in advance for your thoughts.  

  
Ms. Tai Tomasi, J.D.
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-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Graham Hardy via BlindLaw
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2018 2:00 PM
To: 'blindlaw at nfbnet.org' <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Graham Hardy <GHardy at harrisbrun.com>
Subject: [blindlaw] Introduction from a new member

Hi everyone,

I am a new member to this list. I was called to the bar in British Columbia in 2015. For the past several months I've been with a firm that does insurance defence and subrogated insurance claims including motor vehicle accidents, plaintiff-side personal injury, workers' compensation, family, and employment. I am totally blind since birth. I hope to share some knowledge with this list about succeeding in a law practice.

I have a couple of questions to start. I have an extremely supportive set of lawyers and assistants at my firm, who as far as I can tell all want me to succeed, and, for instance, I'm explicitly encouraged to take my paralegal with me to court and to examinations for discovery (which I believe are called depositions in America). My biggest concern is documents. I've found I need to be excessively prepared with a knowledge of my files, and if I plan ahead of time I can make notes in my files of the various sources of information I can put to witnesses and exactly where it is in the file. I've already run a trial and it worked fine for the most part, although in one instance I miscommunicated with my paralegal, who didn't have a copy of the document I actually wanted but had only one that looked very similar. But do you have experience or tips for how to be the most effective?

Second, I'm becoming aware that there are blind people who either want to become lawyers or are on their way to it, and obviously sighted lawyers who have trouble understanding the potential of blind lawyers. I recognise I'm lucky to be where I am and want to find opportunities to be visible and to give back to the community. Being in court obviously achieves that visibility. When I go to chambers (or motions practice) for an interlocutory order, the courtroom is full of other lawyers who see my advocacy. I've also recently been elected for a three-year term on the Provincial Council of the Canadian Bar Association, which will hopefully be a good leadership position. Is there anything else you can suggest for leadership that might contribute to the legal profession for a junior lawyer?

Graham Hardy | Lawyer  604-608-2043 | ghardy at harrisbrun.com<mailto:ghardy at harrisbrun.com>
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