“On several occasions it has been made clear to me – a person who, from time to time, but less severely than many other people, stammers – that the way I sometimes speak could be inconsistent with how a law firm wants to be represented to its clients”
— Aonghus Heatley
Nick Fischer
Nick is an associate at Marks & Clerk Law LLP, a London-based law firm that specialises in intellectual property. Nick qualified as a solicitor in March 2016, having completed his training contract at Simmons & Simmons LLP.
He has had a stammer since early childhood, and remembers all too well the challenges he faced at training contract interviews and assessment centres. Conscious of the lack of visibility and senior role models, he was motivated to set up the network to bring together people who stammer and to help raise awareness of stammering and other invisible disabilities within the legal profession. Nick also sits on the committee of IP Ability, an IP Inclusive community for disabled people, carers and their allies working within the IP profession, and is a Stambassador for the charity Action for Stammering Children. You can check out his “Stambassador” video here.
Feel free to connect with Nick via LinkedIn or get in touch via email.
Email me: nfischer@marks-clerk.com
Aonghus Heatley
Aonghus Heatley is an associate at a law firm in London specialising in public and regulatory law. He is a person who stammers and is actively working on being more open about his own experiences with the condition. Aonghus wants to raise awareness of stammering, both to encourage people who may want to know more about it to feel able to ask questions, but also to ensure that, in a time when issues of diversity and inclusiveness are finally getting more of the attention they deserve, stammering is not overlooked.
Email me: aonghus.heatley@gmail.com
Bethany Watkinson
Bethany Watkinson is a trainee solicitor in the London office of a US firm. Bethany has developed an interiorised stammer since early adulthood having experienced an overt stammer as a child.
Through connecting with Aonghus and Nick and learning from their experiences, Bethany was motivated to create a network which connected aspiring legal professionals who stammer with role models to build confidence and accessibility to the legal profession. Bethany is also particularly interested in increasing the accessibility of law as a career for those who stammer having undergone the training contract application process recently herself.
Email me: watkinsonbethany@gmail.com