Dr Maria Orchard
- Position: Research Fellow / Teaching Fellow
- Areas of expertise: human rights law; disability law and policy; access to justice
- Email: M.Orchard@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 6873
- Location: G.23/24 Liberty Building
- Website: Inclusive Public Space Project | Twitter
Profile
I joined the School of Law as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in January 2019. I work on the ERC-funded project 'Inclusive Public Space: Law, Universality and Difference in the Accessibility of Streets' alongside Professor Anna Lawson (Principal Investigator). Since January 2023, I am also a Teaching Fellow at the School of Law.
Research interests
Disability law and policy; feminist disability studies; issues surrounding accessibility, inclusion and access to justice; socio-legal methodology; group activism and advocacy; international human rights law.
Qualifications
- PhD Law
- LLM International Human Rights Law and Labour Rights
- JD International and Comparative Law
- BA Political Science and Foreign Languages
Professional memberships
- State Bar of New Mexico
- Socio-Legal Studies Association
Student education
I currently teach on the following modules:
- Tort Law
- Disability Law
- Human Rights and Disabled People 1
- Human Rights and Disabled People 2
- Comparative Human Rights Law
- Inequalities Law and Justice
I am the Module Leader for Human Rights and Disabled People 1.
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for Disability Studies
- Centre for Law and Social Justice
- Disability Law Hub