After working on last year’s special report on women in law, I was looking for a similar issue to focus on for 2009 and decided to examine diversity in the legal profession.
In January, I started doing preliminary research on the topic. What I found regarding diversity information and statistics: a lot in the United States. It took some time to drill down and realize there is hardly any information available on diversity in the legal profession in Canada. Obviously I had my work cut out for me. Eventually, a number of studies came to light. The Law Society of Upper Canada has conducted a number of them. Plus a few academics, including Fiona Kay at Queen’s University, are looking into the issue of diversity in the profession but the majority of work on equity in the law has focused on women.
Suffice it to say, there’s not much to go on when trying to get information on the demographic makeup of law firms in this country. In the United States, practically every firm has that information easily accessible online. Corporate counsel in the U.S. have also pushed the envelope, and through A Call to Action and other groups, top companies and their legal counsel have told their legal service providers diversity is a priority and if you don’t do it, we won’t use your firm. Our neighbours are light-years ahead in terms of promoting and recognizing the importance of diversity.
The only true way to gauge change is to collect statistics. Law firms that say they don’t want to be ranked; don’t need to have metrics because they can “see” their diversity programs are working; don’t want to make their numbers public because it will hurt rather than benefit them; say it’s just too soon to put that information out there; or just don’t think that diversity is important are all missing the boat. For the clients and students law firms are trying to attract, this is a very important issue.
Some law societies have started to get the ball rolling with the collection of aggregate demographic statistics. They allow law societies to tailor programming and policies to ensure the legal profession becomes more inclusive and diverse so it better reflects the society it serves.
As Frank Walwyn, president of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers points out, it is fear keeping law firms from looking within and being willing to count and make public their demographic statistics. Even a decade ago, lawyers balked at being asked questions about their race, religion, or ethnicity. For the most part, according to equity advisers interviewed for our special report, that is no longer true. Lawyers are mostly willing to self-identify in equity-seeking groups. And with the proper groundwork, law firms can collect that information with a fair degree of success — particularly as answering the self-identifying questions is voluntary.
The LSUC’s Justicia project, which focuses on women in the profession, has been embraced by the legal community. More than 50 firms are collecting information, including demographic statistics, as part of it. There’s no reason to balk at expanding that collection of data. And there’s even less of an argument for not making it public. The National Association for Law Placement in Canada will be pushing for that in the next year or so, providing law firms with best practices on how to collect and use those statistics.
But most importantly, law firms shouldn’t be afraid of the numbers. You have to start somewhere and even if a firm doesn’t appear diverse right now, if its aim is change, those numbers will reflect that. Many firms said they don’t have much diversity in their upper ranks yet but are sure that will change in the next few years. Well then, let the numbers tell the story. Get those statistics collected and out there for everyone to see that your law firm makes diversity a priority, is willing to show measurable progress, and be a leader in the bar.
