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Disability Legal Information Clinic

Welcome

The Disability Legal Information Clinic was established as a joint venture between the Centre for Disability Law and Policy (CDLP) and University of Galway’s Free Legal Advice Centre Society. Since its launch in 2011, the clinic has provided legal information on a diverse range of disability related issues such as housing, employment, education or discrimination.

The clinic has two main goals:

  • to provide a legal information service on issues related to disability, and
  • to serve as a research resource for practitioners and organisations on aspects of disability law

The clinic takes place from October to May on an appointment basis. Clinic sessions can be held either remotely or in-person at the University of Galway.

Email dlic@universityofgalway.ie for more information or to get an appointment.

For screen readers the clinic email is  d l i c at  university of galway dot ie

For details on who should attend the clinic, confidentiality, accessibility and other information, please see the clinic’s policy document

The Clinic policy is available in Clinic policy PDF or as a Clinic Policy Word doc

To read the clinic policy document as in Easy read Clinic policy .    

Information Clinic

The clinic is staffed by law student volunteers and supervised by legal practitioners and a member of the CDLP team. Volunteers at the clinic are students and not legal practitioners, and therefore cannot provide legal advice, simply information on how to address legal issues facing people with disabilities. Anyone requiring legal advice will have to consult a solicitor separately.

Clinic sessions will be held either remotely or in-person at the University of Galway on an appointment basis. Please email  dlic@universityofgalway.ie (for screen readers d l i c at  university of galway dot ie ) to arrange an appointment. The clinic cannot respond to queries via email. However, the team will reply to arrange an appointment and clients will be asked to fill in a short form with details of their query and confirming they are happy for the clinic to use their information to set up an online meeting via Microsoft Teams, Zoom or a similar secure platform.


Clinic policy dictates that if a query is being made about or on behalf of a person with disability, the person at the centre of the query should attend the session This is to ensure information can be provided directly to the individual. Those attending the clinic are welcome have a family member, advocate or support person attend the appointment with them if they wish.

For details on who should attend the clinic, confidentiality, accessibility and other information, please see the clinic’s policy document

Clinic policy PDF              Clinic Policy Word doc          Easy read Clinic policy

 

Accessibility

The Disability Legal Information Clinic is committed to ensuring its service is accessible. The clinic endeavours to ensure all methods of communication and documents are as accessible as possible. However, the clinic welcomes accessibility requests or feedback on how to improve the service. If you have additional accessibility requirements (e.g. will require a sign language interpreter) please contact email  dlic@universityofgalway.ie (for screen readers d l i c at  university of galway dot ie )

Research Resource

The clinic's research resource pairs law student volunteers with CDLP PhD researchers and research staff to prepare pieces of research sought by local organisations, or assemble case law and precedent relating to disability issues for legal practitioners, as part of developing a case or presenting an argument for reform.

Requests for research to be carried out are dealt with on a case by case basis. Priority will be given to issues which can be addressed within the current capacity of the CDLP, which currently carries out research on legal capacity, independent living, mental health law, employment law and inclusive education among other areas (see Research Projects for further information).

Students supporting the research resource aspect of the clinic receive training on research methods, sources, and presenting legal research in accessible easy-to-read formats for organisations, or in the form of a briefing note for legal practitioners, as necessary. In addition to this training, research volunteers will be mentored by CDLP staff and CDLP PhD students, who will quality-assure the research produced by the clinic.

Completed projects: