|
|
 Wael Abdin – British Council Chevening Scholar
|
Wael Omer Abdin is a positive example for others - a corporate and commercial lawyer with emphasis on international arbitration who has 7 years post qualification experience and is a member of the International Bar Association and of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He was awarded, in 2005, a Chevening Scholarship, administered by the British Council, which enabled him to attend the University of Manchester to study law at Masters level. Wael was successful in obtaining a placement via International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA), which organises work experience in top law firms to lawyers chosen on a competitive basis from across Africa. For the last few months he has been on a placement in London with Denton Wilde Sapte, an international law firm with over 750 lawyers and a network of offices and associated offices spanning the UK, Europe, Middle East, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Africa. As a lawyer with a visual impairment, Wael has worked in Sudan to overcome barriers in education and in work for himself and others. June Jackson, Equality Research and Consulting Ltd., Consultant to the British Council, spoke to Wael about his experiences as a visually impaired person, prior to his return to Sudan in November 2007.
Initially Wael chose to work in law because he believes that is the area that allows him to defend the most disadvantaged people in society, for example defending on human rights issues, freedom of speech, increasing access to credit, and reforming business related laws to promote work for disadvantaged people and young entrepreneurs. This then builds an environment where it is possible to attract foreign investment, mobilising resources towards creating more jobs and more economic activities in Sudan. Wael feels this can be done only by enhancing the legal environment in the country. He contributes to this by increasing public awareness about the effect of the legal system on economic development, and by raising awareness by teaching at the university and publishing.
According to Wael, exposure to working with lawyers internationally is key to development in Africa. Throughout his studies and career he has sought out opportunities to progress. As a person with a disability he does not seek positive discrimination. He prefers only to be an equal competitor in the job market, in education and in political and economic lives – neither to be discriminated against because of his disability nor to get any positive discrimination because of his disability. He also does not want a focus on his disability, but on his professional achievements. In the short term he feels that it is important to raise awareness of disability, but hopefully in the longer term this will not be necessary.
He applied to the British Council for a Chevening Scholarship. The scholarships, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and administered by the British Council, are prestigious awards which enable international students to study in the United Kingdom. Scholarships are offered in over 150 countries and enable talented graduates and young professionals to become familiar with the UK and gain skills which will benefit their countries. As a Chevening Scholar he attended the University of Manchester, where he was awarded an LL.M International Business Law (with Merit).
The British Council have a specialist International Student Services Unit (ISSU) which has developed knowledge and expertise on a range of needs relating to disability. A needs assessment is carried out for each student with a disability and the International Student Welfare Adviser liaises with the prospective student, their sponsoring organisation and their chosen university in order to ensure that they have an effective orientation and induction programme, that practical issues are addressed such as individual requirements for any specialist equipment, academic support and non medical personal care support, library facilities, adapted accommodation, orientation and mobility training.
In the UK, universities are required under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to make ‘reasonable adjustments ‘ to ensure that disabled students are not disadvantaged within the institution and to take steps to anticipate and put in place arrangements to ensure their needs are met. However, a university may take responsibility only for a certain level of provision i.e. in addressing teaching and library facilities, ensuring disabled access to the campus and in providing residential accommodation. Other essential provision may be identified but the university will take account of the financial resources available to the individual student either through sponsorship or, as in the case of UK students, the Disabled Students’ Allowances.
Prior to Wael arriving in the UK, the British Council, in partnership with the University of Manchester and the Chevening programme, undertook a needs assessment for him, which resulted in him being provided with a laptop with a software package with sound, suitable for his use as a visually impaired person. ISSU provide an ongoing point of contact for students managed through the British Council and welfare advisers keep in regular contact with individual students both prior to and following their arrival in the UK and arrange visits to meet students and university staff and formally review the services and support being provided to ensure that students’ needs are being met. Sometimes additional issues arise during the period of study and, in consultation with Wael, the British Council organised for him to have a phone which was suitable for a visually impaired person to be able to access phone messages, and an UltraCane, which emits ultrasonic waves which bounce off objects in its path and echo back to the cane, giving more knowledge about the surrounding environment. This greatly enhances independence.
During Wael’s period as a Chevening Scholar, he was invited to become a member of the British Council’s Disability Advisory Panel and he was involved in the development of the organisation’s Integrated Equality Scheme where, according to Jane Franklin, Deputy Head of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at the British Council, he brought an invaluable international perspective to the discussions.
Wael heard about the International Lawyers for Africa Project (ILFA) when it was launched in March 2006 to give lawyers from Africa a grounding in specialist skills for International Lawyers. ILFA’s existence and continued success depends on the participation and support of London’s leading law firms, who host individual candidates on the programme. There were a lot of papers to complete and, given the high level of competition for the places, he was delighted to be contacted by ILFA and informed that he had been allocated to Denton Wilde Sapte. Rosemary Smith and Laura Cunningham, from Human Resources, were his key contacts at the firm. Wael believes that the British Council's Chevening Scholarship was crucial to him being able to apply for and succeed in gaining a place on the ILFA programme, as he developed confidence particularly in working in an international environment.
ILFA is in its first year of operation and there are nine jurisdictions. It was considered that it would be more difficult to get the contacts in Sudan than in some other countries such as Ghana and Nigeria which already had strong links with the UK. Donna St. Hill, on the ILFA Advisory Committee, put together the Sudan Advisory Committee and the quality of the applications that came through from Sudan was high. According to Tim Taylor, a Director of ILFA and partner with SJ Berwin LLP, although the selectors were aware of Wael’s disability, ILFA did not think about that at all and, on reflection, they consider they should have done, from a practical point of view - “we sleepwalked into the disability side of the issue”. The selection was on pure merit – on qualifications and experience. Participation in the ILFA programme has included not only the placement with Denton Wilde Sapte, but also attending a series of legal seminars for the ILFA candidates, held at universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Brunel and UCL, as well as training sessions in a number of top city law firms and the World Bank.
The thrust of the IFLA initiative is commercially driven and the programme participants have also had visits to the business sector, for example to Diageo who, when they heard about the ILFA programme, were very keen to have everyone in and tell them about Diageo’s business in Africa. Tim Taylor’s future plans for the development of the ILFA programme include placements involving high street firms, where participants would gain experience of firms offering a range of services to the local community. Some of these practices offer specialist services in a particular area such as Criminal and/or Matrimonial work and provide additional services in Conveyancing, Probate, Family Law, Immigration law amongst others, which would add to the experience that the ILFA candidates gain from the city firms.
According to Tim Taylor, one of the very positive experiences is that Wael was with a firm that has got a real business interest in Africa. At this moment in time, the City of London is short of skilled lawyers, who are going to Canada, Australia and India, and though there are lots of Indian lawyers coming in to the UK, they are treated as a resource, like any other lawyer. However, the mindset towards African lawyers has often been connected to a firm’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. What is refreshing about Denton Wilde Sapte’s perspective is that because they have got a serious business involvement in Africa, they have responded to this just as a form of business, not as part of a corporate social responsibility programme.
For ILFA, there have in fact been very few issues that they have needed to address in relation to Wael’s disability. Wael has participated in all the work and social sessions of the programme and Wael’s experience may even have been slightly richer than that of some other candidates, because there has been less of a danger of him ‘falling through the cracks’ in the big organisation, i.e. Wael makes an additional effort to make sure that he gets to know people and is keen to ensure that he is not inadvertently excluded from activities because of his disability.
The whole notion of disability was not anywhere in the thinking of the ILFA programme at all, except in a very, very tangential sense. Lawyers from Africa face assumptions and prejudices – for example, assumptions that they will not be up to the standard required in the UK - just as disabled people do too. According to Tim, “it’s a double whammy, with a double benefit when you address it”. It’s early days in the development of the programme, but they will consider Wael’s feedback in terms of disability access in the future. Interestingly, there is a very good precedent for blind lawyers – these included Sir Rupert Cross, a great academic and author of Cross on Evidence, and his brother, Lord Cross of Chelsea, who was also blind, was a Law Lord; Jim Harris, Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford was blind; and Lawrence Graham, a large London-based international law firm, had two blind partners.
According to Paul Bugingo, Partner and Director of Africa Development at Denton Wilde Sapte, involvement in the ILFA programme is something which ties in directly with their business. Wael’s placement with Denton Wilde Sapte has been a great benefit. As a firm, they have had a long association with law firms in Africa, going back some 15 to 20 years, always dealing with local lawyers, and Sudan is no exception. So, it has been a pleasure for the firm to have somebody working in their departments who is involved in Africa, in the financial services, energy and telecoms, which are some of the areas of Wael’s expertise. The timing could not have been better as Southern Sudan is a greenfield site for business. What the firm was lacking was somebody knowledgeable about the legal environment in Sudan, who could disseminate information on behalf of the firm, and get information about Sudan and help them understand the politics of the region.
STELLA - COULD YOU PUT BELOW IN A BOX?
“Everybody who has dealt with Wael has been impressed with the merit of his work”.
Paul Bugingo, Partner and Director of Africa Development, Denton Wilde Sapte
Paul Bugingo says that there could not have been anybody better, because Wael has taught in Juba, in the south of Sudan, and has a practice in Khartoum. He has helped them to understand the mood of the country and how that mood reflects on the business and what they are trying to achieve, without compromising any confidentiality of clients. According to Paul, colleagues in Denton Wilde Sapte have learnt a considerable amount from this collaboration with ILFA.
During his time with Denton Wilde Sapte, Wael has selected three specific areas in which to gain expertise – Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance, and Telecommunications.
The logistical issues surrounding Wael’s disability were rather challenging for the firm in the planning stages. But with a bit of time they got there and colleagues, having had this experience, will be better prepared when other blind people join the firm in the future. They learnt about the software, for instance, and this is something that will help work with Wael, and with other visually impaired colleagues, in the future.
According to Howard Barrie, Head of Denton Wilde Sapte’s Africa Department, when ILFA advised them that they wanted Wael to come to the firm, their approach was to identify what was needed right from the outset. While it might have felt that they were making heavy weather of it at the beginning, Howard stresses that it is very important that if organisations are involved in selecting people who happen to have disabilities there is the right amount of planning. “You have got to have a number of conversations. You have got to understand the particular nature of the disability that the person has.” They spent quite a lot of time talking with Wael, understanding more about his disability, and understanding what additional systems they needed to put in place in order to make sure that his time with the firm would be as valuable as possible. According to Howard, if you do not have a good idea about what the person is able to do and what additional support is required, and plan for it properly, then you could find a situation where someone arrives and the firm is not prepared for them. Denton Wilde Sapte felt a keen sense of responsibility that if they were going to take Wael then they would make sure that he had an experience which was worthwhile. And that his disability, in so much as it was possible, did not get in the way of the learning experience that he had.
Rosemary Smith, Personnel Officer at Denton Wilde Sapte, says that, because the firm recruits far in advance for trainees, there is a year or two to get to know the trainees’ needs. This helps address any facilities required for people with disabilities. When Wael arrived, Rosemary and colleagues organised accommodation for him just a 10 minute walk away from the offices. Several staff volunteered to accompany him to and from work in the first few days, so that he could familiarise himself with the walk. Staff also accompanied him when he was opening a bank account, and making professional applications. They also initially supported him with shopping, which he has very much appreciated. The firm also organised transport to the various sessions organised by ILFA. The various departments at the firm, such as catering, security, and technical support, were made aware that Wael was coming. There is sufficient communication around the firm for staff to be aware of people’s needs, irrespective of what their disability might be.
There have been some unexpected benefits from working flexibly to meet Wael’s needs. For example, colleagues learnt that e-mail is not everything. For the first three or four days of Wael’s placement, when he didn’t have his software system set up, “we just did what we did before e-mail came, we just crossed the corridor and went and talked to him”. This led to more face-to-face communication, which reminded people that this can be richer than e-mail communication.
Communication has been the key thing, to try and make the placement as workable as possible. They have had blind staff in the past, but as a firm had not kept systems up to date to accommodate the needs of a blind person. Now, having put in place systems for Wael, this has updated their facilities. The advances in technology have helped in one respect, but in another respect the software has its limitations, especially in a law firm where there are so many packages that need to be used. The more people with a range of needs that come in, the more the firm learns, and the more the IT department learn. They need to be involved in supporting any problems that there are with the packages.
STELLA – COULD YOU PUT BELOW IN A BOX?
“Looking forward, if we have anyone else with any sort of disability, we are that step further ahead than we were two months ago.
Rosemary Smith, Personnel Office, Denton Wilde Sapte – put in a box?
A lot of credit for the success of the placement goes to Wael, says Paul Bugingo. Secondees who come, who have no disability, can sit in their rooms, and they stay behind the doors. But from the beginning Wael was outside talking to DWS people, he was in the meetings and the training sessions, and the canteen. So much so that, when a partner was visiting from Dubai, he was being shown around the London office and introduced to London people by Wael.
STELLA – COULD YOU PUT BELOW IN A BOX?
“I hope that ILFA can be continued, because no one firm can cover the 52 countries in Africa. We are just scratching the surface, and the view of a number of law firms has been that they will support Africa when they need laptops, or when they need books, whereas here we were taking advantage of this excellent group of lawyers on the programme, and learning from them.”
Paul Bugingo, Partner and Director of Africa Development, Denton Wilde Sapte. – put in a box?
STELLA – COULD YOU PUT BELOW IN A BOX?
“Because everybody is very conscious of disability and not wanting to emphasise it, there is a natural kind of reticence to address the issues. It does need a level of awareness before the person arrives to make sure that the firm can properly honour the commitment to ILFA, and indeed the individual, which is that if they are taking very high calibre individuals, people who amongst all the lawyers in their particular country have been selected to benefit from the ILFA scheme, that they feel they are going home having gained something which they would not have gained just by continuing to have been in practice in their own particular country."
Howard Barrie, Head of Africa Department, Denton Wilde Sapte – put in a box?
According to Wael, the British Council, International Lawyers for Africa and Denton Wilde Sapte have done their utmost, and addressed everything possible. Over and above that, the attitude of people in all three organisations has been very positive and friendly – in the reception, in the canteen, security staff, and the library. In his placement with Denton Wilde Sapte, he has had very positive experiences with colleagues and Human Resources have been responsive to the issues that Wael has raised, even when it has been outside their job. The building is accessible and it is easy to navigate around. For Wael, the IT staff have been brilliant – they are there in a few minutes and sort out any problems for him. He feels that Denton Wilde Sapte would not have any problems with accommodating any visually impaired staff, and hopes to see their representation at partner level.
According to ILFA, it was good fortune that Denton Wilde Sapte found a match in Wael, because they have done a fantastic job for him, and he has for them.
Wael is grateful to the British Council and the ILFA programme which paved the way for him to gain his experience at Denton Wilde Sapte. He now plans to do a PhD in Project Finance. It is also an exciting time for his firm in Khartoum, which will expand to a Partnership by the end of 2007. The aim is for this to become the largest law firm in Sudan and the most modern one. A further future plan is to establish an independent Centre for Law and Economic Development in Sudan. He is also keen to work with ILFA so that they can develop a framework to work with disabled lawyers in Africa. In addition, he will be writing a report for Denton Wilde Sapte’s Human Resources department, aimed at helping develop the integration of disabled lawyers in the future. As a past Chevening Scholar he will continue his relationship with the British Council, particularly on the development of inclusion of people with disabilities.
For further information, please contact:
June Jackson, Equality Research and Consulting Ltd.
Tel: 01932 561320
E-mail: [email protected]
Jane Franklin, Diversity Unit, British Council
Tel: 0161 957 7174
E-mail: [email protected]
Claudette Coke, International Student Services Unit, British Council
Tel: 0161 957 7279
E-mail: [email protected]
10th December 2007
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Samer Osman
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست