Best practices for working with lawyers with disabilities

“While the legal profession has shifted to greater recognition of the employment obstacles for traditional minorities, awareness is lacking in the area of disability,” said Prof. Carrie Griffin Basas. The University of Tulsa College of Law professor was one of the panelists presenting at the Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law’s second ABA National Conference on the Employment of Lawyers with Disabilities last month. “Disabilities are still equated with diminished professional abilities, rather than seeing disabilities as mere physical or mental impairments that could have no negative effects on individuals’ abilities to be lawyers.”

People with serious disabilities experience one of the highest rates of unemployment among minority groups. Yet, they can be assets to companies and can help reflect the greater diversity of society and of the customer bases of their employers, Basas said.

Panelist Walter J. Smith of Baker Botts LLP and a parent of a cognitively disabled son, recalled how his son’s first job at his law firm was a transformative experience for him, his son and his staff. The experience motivated Smith to hire more people with disabilities. “Professional service firms—law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms and the like—are ideal places to work for individuals with cognitive or physical disabilities. We have a safe and quiet environment that lends itself to training and mentoring. We have a relatively well-educated and caring workforce. But most importantly, we have important work that needs to get done that they can master. And as I often like to say, we’re not just helping them make a living, we’re helping them make a life.”

The stigma of disability prevents many employers from hiring people with disabilities. They worry disabled employees will cost more to retain and will have lower productivity levels. According to panelists citing research, these fears are unfounded. They also pointed out that employers who hire people with disabilities are more likely—not less—to hire people with disabilities in the future.

Another worry of employers involves providing disabled employees with “reasonable accommodations.” The Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that employers must provide employees with disabilities with reasonable accommodations so they may perform the essential functions of their jobs. However, it is up to the employee to request an accommodation.

Most accommodations cost little or nothing at all, according to studies. Moreover, research cited by the Job Accommodation Network showed that on average, for every dollar employers put into making an accommodation, they got back approximately $10 in benefits. Some accommodations include a quiet work space, frequent breaks and longer training time for employees with mental impairments, and parking near to the worksite and use of a service animal for those with physical disabilities.

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When working with lawyers with disabilities, panelists suggested employers keep these tips in mind:

1. Address less-than-satisfactory performance. It is not helpful to coddle lawyers. Employers should assume that people with disabilities have the same chance at failing as those without disabilities. Many employers make the mistake of thinking of an employee’s disability as the cause for performance issues, when in reality he may need constructive criticism about a specific work habit.
2. Let past functioning be a predictor of future performance. Many new managers wrongly underestimate the capabilities of their staff with disabilities by failing to give the employees work on their proven skill level or, worse, refusing to assign them any work. Top management at law firms should put equal weight on past performance of both employees with disabilities and non-disabled employees.
3. The biggest factor in the retention and promotion of lawyers with disabilities is the availability of a good mentorship program within the firm.

Firms should be open to hiring lawyers with disabilities, but should not hire them for any other reason than merit. Hiring them for tokenism or charity is inappropriate and will likely lead to these employees leaving, cautioned Charles Brown of the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults.

Integration is one of the keys to the success of law firm diversity efforts. Partners and management should ask themselves the following: “How do we maximize, judge and evaluate talent?” and “Is the firm encouraging and enabling integration of lawyers with disabilities?”

Diversity can benefit law firms. Respect, opportunity and an open mind will set firms on the right path.

For further information on working with people with disabilities, access conference materials here.

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© 2009 American Bar Association