[blindLaw] Structural barriers faced by blind legal professionals in the developed world

Tue Oct 1 13:17:49 UTC 2019

That’s very kind, Laura. However, as James says, it sadly cannot be done without going through the rigmarole of law school all over again. In England, on the other hand, you can be qualified to become a barrister, if your law degree is from a common wealth country, only by giving a qualifying exam.

James, I think you’ve presented the choice quite well. I do think that your point B is also a consideration for me. And the scale at which one can work on issues connected with the disabled in India is literally unparalleled, given the size of the disabled population. As one of my mentors put it, I have the potential of emerging as a real harbinger of change in India. 

On the prestige point, I certainly think that my credentials would carry far greater weight in India. I could, for instance, go back and clerk for a Supreme Court judge and work for an established appellate practitioner if things fall into place. 

In England, on the other hand, I’d have to start with a pupillage/ training stint in a barrister’s chambers and then take things from there.

Rahul  

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 1, 2019, at 1:49 PM, James T. Fetter via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Wouldn't he need to attend law school again at a huge cost of time and money? I am not aware of any means of waiving in with a law degree from a foreign university.
> 
> Rahul, I would look at this question from two angles: where can you actually thrive as a lawyer without dealing with an inordinate amount of discrimination or other barriers, and where can you make the largest positive impact on leveling the playing field for future blind/disabled professionals? I assume, based on your previous posts, that you care deeply about the latter.
> 
> To the first point, being in a developed country has its obvious advantages: anti-discrimination laws (though these are often far harder to enforce than we would like), some amount of acceptance that blind people can do more than tie their own shoes, well-developed technological infrastructure, and, given your impressive credentials, a cecent chance that you could jump right into sophisticated legal work. However, it seems based on your message that the prestige of your degree might actually carry more weight in India than in England. And, as we all know, prestige counts for a whole lot in this field. You also might be able to do something about the discrimination you have discussed (e.g. your earlier message about judicial rulings in India to the effect that blind people cannot be judges).
> 
> I guess the question is whether you want to be a small, if hopefully comfortable, fish in a big pond with at least some legal recourse when you face discrimination or a bigger, albeit less comfortable, fish that also has to swim upstream all the time but with the opportunity to make the environment somewhat more hospitable for blind and otherwise disabled attorneys. Of course we would love to have you in the US, but I see no up side for you to that move, unless you really loved law school and want to do it all over again.
> 
> 
>> On 10/1/2019 6:29 AM, Laura Wolk via BlindLaw wrote:
>> Rahul, I think you are neglecting a third option... Come to the US!!!
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Oct 1, 2019, at 6:19 AM, Paul Harpur via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I teach law in Australia so have had similar discussions with students going back to a range of countries.  My suggestion is try to stay for a short while, as if you leave you will find it hard to come back, but if you stay for a bit you increase your opportunities.
>>> 
>>> Dr Paul Harpur
>>> BBus (HRm), LLB (Hons) LLM, PhD, solicitor of the High Court of Australia (non-practicing)
>>> Fulbright Future Scholar/International Distinguished Fellow, Burton Blatt Institute, SU, New York.
>>> Senior Lecturer
>>>  TC Beirne School of Law
>>> The University of Queensland
>>> Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia
>>>  T +61 7 3365 8864 M +61 417 635 609
>>> E p.harpur at law.uq.edu.au TCB Profile/Google Citation Page
>>> CRICOS code: 00025B
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Scientia ac Labore
>>> 
>>> This email (including any attached files) is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information of The University of Queensland. If you are not the addressee, you are notified that any transmission, distribution, printing or photocopying of this email is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please delete and notify me. Unless explicitly stated, the opinions expressed in this email do not represent the official position of The University of Queensland.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rahul Bajaj via BlindLaw
>>> Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2019 7:46 PM
>>> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Rahul Bajaj <rahul.bajaj1038 at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: [blindLaw] Structural barriers faced by blind legal professionals in the developed world
>>> 
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>> 
>>> I was following the conversation on discrimination closely. This is because it is linked to a question that I have been wrestling with for some months now.
>>> 
>>> As some of you may know, I am from India and am qualified to practice law there. Last year, however, I moved to England, to pursue my postgraduate legal education [in India, law is taught at the undergraduate level] at the University of Oxford on the Rhodes Scholarship. My scholarship ends next summer, and I have to decide whether I'd like to go back to India or stay on in England, at least in the near future.
>>> 
>>> One crucial factor, though not the controlling one, for me is the accessibility of the legal profession in the two countries and the possibility of obtaining the reasonable accommodations that I require.
>>> My question for you, therefore, is this: To what extent, in your assessment, has your country of residence [which, for most of you is the U.S.,] impacted your professional prospects, access to reasonable accommodations and quality of life as a blind lawyer?
>>> 
>>> I understand, of course, that many of you have not experienced the counterfactual of operating in a different jurisdiction and may not have a good comparator against which to evaluate your experience. What I am hoping to understand, however, is how much of the above is a function of the country that you live in per se versus the micro environment that one operates in i.e. one's financial position, degree of influence, skill/ ability, rapport with one's employer, etc.
>>> 
>>> India does have a long way to go in creating a level playing field for blind lawyers, notwithstanding unceasing efforts by some of us to change the landscape. That said, I do think that the micro environment in India will be a lot more suitable for me, because I do have most of the above-mentioned factors going for me. Plus, being an Oxford educated lawyer with a prestigious scholarship does give you access to the upper echelons of the Profession, if you work in that direction. I do not state this boastfully, just as an objective fact. On the other hand, in England, the macro environment does appear a lot more conducive for blind professionals. Reasonable adjustments are firmly guaranteed by law. Folks aren't dealing with the same volume of cases or workload as they are in India, meaning that accessibility does not get sacrificed at the altar of productivity. Most stakeholders are far more well-resourced than they are in India.
>>> 
>>> On the micro level, I will have to establish myself in the profession in England, and will, in that sense, be one of the many lawyers on the block. In other words, I may not have the same amount of traction as I would in India. I look forward to hearing your reflections on the above issues. Thank you.
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> Rahul
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> --
>>> Rahul Bajaj
>>> Candidate for the BCL
>>> Rhodes Scholar (India and Linacre 2018)
>>> University of Oxford
>>> 
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