Who am I?
Danielle
Gleicher-Bates
I was a double scholar on the vocational component of Bar training in the September 2020 cohort. That is, until I reached the end of the five-year limit in September 2025, time-barring me from completion.
I am deeply passionate about creating a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive legal sector, particularly for neurodivergent and disabled, and have co-founded two neurodiversity-focused non-profits. I was awarded DEI Champion of the Year in a Specialist Role in the Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2024, and listed in the top 100 most influential disabled people in the UK, ranked 2nd in Politics, Law and Media (Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 2024).
Whilst the issues raised by this project do not exclusively impact disabled people, it appears they may be disproportionately impacted.
Why am I doing this?
I am prohibited from sitting the two assessments I have never attempted. Consequently, I cannot be called to the Bar. The precise path that led me here does not really matter, but includes reasons relating to multiple neurodivergence and disability, and other extenuating circumstances.
Despite having successfully completed the other eight subjects on my first attempt, mostly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and before receiving multiple diagnoses and associated reasonable adjustments, I am not allowed a time extension. Had I enrolled earlier, I would still be permitted to sit assessments, subject to repeat extensions, just like the numerous students still on their course who started before me.
Whilst I am personally impacted, I am doing this because I am not the only one.
How did this come about?
Over the years, I’ve been given inconsistent information about the five-year rule.
Months before reaching expiry, I received very different responses from three institutions supposed to know and be in accordance with each other.
This set off alarm bells. Instead of things becoming clearer, they had become much murkier.
I felt uneasy about being subject to a ban I could not access, or even ascertain existed beyond word-of-mouth, not least because of its implications.
I decided to find out.
I did not find the clarity I was seeking, but what I did discover, should be shared.
Why create art?
Some things are impossible to convey through language alone, particularly when you’re neurodivergent.
And sometimes, you just have to meet ridiculous with… ridiculous.