Staff
Richard Whittle
Senior lecturer in law, LLB(Hons), LLM, PGC Res.
Subjects taught
- EU Law
Phone 0114 225 2359
E-mail r.whittle@shu.ac.uk
Profile
Richard joined the Law Group in 2007. He is the creator of LawSync™, an innovative project and training module exploring the rapidly changing market dynamics in the context of legal services.
Prior to joining the Law Group, Richard was a Jean Monnet Lecturer in EU Law at the University of Leeds. His principal research interest is in EU disability law and policy. Between 1998 and 1999 he represented the Disability Unit of the EU Commission in the development of what is now Directive 2000/78/EC (the Employment Framework Directive). Since 2003, Richard has been a registered expert on the EU Commission’s DG Employment and Social Affairs AMI-INT Expert database (registration number: 20030225-0560).
Richard is a regular speaker on disability equality and human rights law at the Academy of European Law (ERA) in Trier, Germany. In conjunction with ERA, Richard is contributing to the European Union's Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - PROGRESS (2007-2013). In this capacity, Richard's research is currently focused on the legal and policy impact at national and EU-levels of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.
Richard is an expert advisor to the British Disability Rights Commission (subsumed within the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2010) and the European Disability Forum. He has acted as a consultant for various groups, institutional bodies and major private companies in and out of Europe and is a regular contributor to academic journals and symposia at national and international levels. Having established Disability Law Consultancy, Richard has has been advising Manchester United Ltd (MU) on a consultancy basis since 2010 in respect of its compliance with equality legislation. One element of this involved undertaking a review of its practices and procedures in respect of disabled supporters and compiling a report for submission to senior management.
Research
Key areas of interest
- EU disability law and policy
- EU equality law
- EU legislative powers and the decision-making process
- comparative disability equality law
- international human rights law and disability
- Legal Services Act 2007 and its legal and policy impact within and beyond the UK
Selected publications
* Additional papers are available on our research archive.
Whittle, R. and Halvorsen, R. 'From disabling barriers to participation. The opportunities created by the EU equality strategy' in Hvinden, B. and Johansson, H. (eds), Citizenship in Nordic Welfare States: Dynamics of Choice, Duties and Participation In a Changing Europe, (Routledge, 2007)
Whittle, R. and Bell. M. (2002) 'Between Social Policy and Union Citizenship: the Framework Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment' 27 European Law Review 677.
Whittle, R. (2002) 'The Framework Directive for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation: an analysis from a disability rights perspective' 27 European Law Review 303.
Principal conference papers
'Access to Justice and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities', and 'Accessibility: a right and an obligation under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", invited papers at the training seminar "EU Disability Law and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: seminar for members of the judiciary - focus on administrative proceedings", Academy of European Law, Trier, Germany, 20-21 June 2011.
'Judicial challenges with the disability ground under the UK's Equality Act (2010)' to the Regional Chairman of the Employment Tribunals and judges from the Yorkshire region, Leeds Employment Tribunals, 1st July 2010.
'The right to travel: from the PRM Regulation towards implementing equal treatment irrespective of disability' an invited paper at the training seminar "EU Passengers' Rights: Strengthening the role of transport users", Academy of European Law, Trier, Germany, 9-10 December 2010;
'The legal concept of disability discrimination: achieving the legislative intention', an invited paper at the national training seminar for judges in Slovakia organised by the Centre for Civic and Human Rights. Tatranska Strba, Slovakia 26 - 28 May 2010;
'The Reasonable Accommodation Duty and EC Anti-discrimination Law', an invited paper at the training seminar for judges and prosecutors across Europe conference 'The Fight Against Discrimination: The Equal Treatment Directives of 2000', Academy of European Law, Trier, Germany, 25-28 November 2007.
'EU disability policy and the equal opportunity principle' an invited paper at the conference 'Working for an inclusive society', EDRC national conference, Malta, 15 September 2005.
'EC disability non-discrimination law: background and prospects', an invited paper at the conference' Anti-discrimination legislation: the disability experience', Oslo, Norway, 1-3 December 2003. (followed by a closed seminar with the Norwegian Disability Rights Commission concerning the development of disability rights legislation)
'Defining disability in EC non-discrimination law', an invited paper at the conference 'Disability Rights in Europe: From Theory to Practice', University of Leeds, England, 25-26 September 2003.
'Health and safety law and the right to non-discrimination on grounds of disability - the EU Dimension', a paper presented by invitation at the seminar of the EC Legal Expert Group on combating discrimination on grounds of disability, Brussels, Belgium, 29 March 2003.
'The EU Dimension to Disability Law and Policy: context, development and challenges', paper presented by invitation at the conference 'Active Citizenship and Marginality in a European Context', Helsinki, Finland, 3-4 April 2003.
'Implementing the Employment Directive in the United Kingdom: the consultation document and disability', paper presented by invitation at the 'Seminar on the Implementation of the Race and Employment Directives in the United Kingdom', Centre for European Law, Kings College London, England, 2 March 2002.
'The EC Framework Directive on Employment and Occupation: an analysis from a disability rights perspective', paper presented by invitation at the 'Seminar with disability organisations and relevant ministries of the applicant States to the European Union', DG Enlargement of the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, 27-28 November 2001.
'The legal construction of the concept of disability discrimination', paper presented by invitation at the 'Discrimination and affirmative action on the labour market - legal perspectives', National Institute for Working Life, Sweden, 6-7 November, Brussels, Belgium, 2001. This workshop was organised in preparation for the Swedish presidency of the European Union.
'Why is a European Law on Disability Discrimination important', key note address, 'Me, You, Us … in our Common Europe', Inclusion Europe, Brussels, Belgium, 22-23 November 2001
Consultancy and research projects
Richard has acted as an expert advisor to the following organisations
- British Disability Rights Commission
- Centre for Strategy and Evaluation Services LLP
- European Disability Forum
- EC Group of Experts on Combating Discrimination on Grounds of Disability
- Manchester United Ltd
He is a registered expert on the DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities AMI-INT Expert database (registration number: 20030225-0560) and has acted as Rapporteur for the following European Commission Conferences
- 'Living Together in Society', Brussels, Belgium, 1-2 December 2005
- 'Combating Discrimination Against Disabled People in the Labour Market', Brussels, Belgium, 5-6 December 2000
Key projects and role
- 'Mid-Term Evaluation of European Action Plan on Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities 2003-2010'
- 'Working it out - a concerted strategy to ensure Europeans with intellectual disabilities can access the Framework Employment Directive and other legal instruments'
- ‘Capacity building of disabled people’s organisations in ten Accession Countries’, funded by the European Community and European Disability Forum (2003-2004, EDF Phare 15/03).
- ‘Active Citizenship and Marginality in a European Context’, funded by the Welfare Research Programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers (2002-2004, Grant no. 149819/599).
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