Based on statistics, a career in law was not in the cards for me. I arrived in Canada at the age of nine from Uruguay. English was not my first language. I attended several high schools in the Jane-Finch area in Toronto. I spent some time away from school before returning to get my high school accreditation. I did not have role models in the profession or a network of legal professionals to encourage me and show me that a career in law was possible for me.
Nevertheless, it was not easy, but over time, I was able to complete a master’s degree and a law degree from McGill University. I was able to article in a pre-eminent labour and employment law boutique firm where I met two great mentors who supported and helped me shape my career. I was able to develop a legal network, and now I am able to speak about these early challenges in the past tense.
Unfortunately, for many racialized students, law students, articling students, and legal professionals, the barriers for entering into the profession and establishing a successful legal practice remain today. Not all can successfully break through these barriers.
As a racialized lawyer, the Law Society of Upper Canada’s “
Challenges Facing Racialized Licensees: Final Report” has given me and many other racialized lawyers a voice. It, in essence, tells our story.
But more importantly, it provides solutions and a way forward; for when we can remove the obstacles faced by racialized lawyers today, then we can speak of merit and equality tomorrow.
Below, I have taken some of the obstacles identified in the report, which in my opinion and experience are critical for reaching the objective of equitable access and opportunity in our profession, and I provide my recommendations for racialized lawyers to take advantage of the opportunities that exist to overcome these barriers.
Role models
The report finds that “[r]acialized law licensees often come from immigrant families or are starting out without family network that include lawyers . . . so are thought not to have the same opportunities in law school or their entry into practice as non-racialized licensees.”
This is a barrier that we, as racialized lawyers, can work to overcome ourselves. Racialized law students must seek out and connect with community/ethnic legal groups. As far as I know, there are no formal lists held by the law societies of racial/ethnic and cultural law associations, but a quick Internet search will provide instant access to many of these groups intending to bring together lawyers and law students and to make critical connections amongst them.
Below are just some of these associations that can provide such an important source of role models, networks, and community support:
•
Canadian Hispanic Bar Association•
Arab Canadian Lawyers Association•
Canadian Association of Black Lawyers•
Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers•
South Asian Bar Association•
Women’s Law Association of OntarioWe, as lawyers, must also become involved in our community and within groups, like those listed above, which seek to reach out to our communities. In essence, we also hold the key to ensuring that the barriers for racialized lawyers are eliminated.
Mentorship opportunities
The report also finds that, consistent with the first point above, “[r]acialized students and licensees are seen as more isolated from professional support networks and find it harder to gain a mentor.” Associations like the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, Legal Leaders for Diversity, and the Association of Corporate Counsel have provided solutions to this problem, by developing formal and informal mentorship programs that can help bridge this gap.
It is important that racialized lawyers at all levels get connected and involved with these associations and attend the events hosted by them so as to develop connections with colleagues, from racialized and non-racialized backgrounds, and to grow their networks.
Articling
The report also finds that law students from racialized groups have a harder time obtaining articling positions, resulting in “lower quality articling positions and inadequate training.”
In my humble opinion, the new Law Practice Program run by Ryerson University for English-speaking students and the French version at the University of Ottawa, have been and can be critical in filling this gap. Not only does the LPP provide a quality articling experience for those not obtaining a more “traditional” articling position, thereby eliminating the unequal training concerns for racialized lawyers, but it also provides racialized and non-racialized lawyers with an opportunity to gain experience as in-house counsel in private, public, profit, and non-profit organizations.
Programs like this can serve as an example for other provinces in dealing with the barriers faced by racialized lawyers. It will be interesting to see what impact, in the long run, such a program will have on future reports on the experience and representation of racialized lawyers in the profession.
In conclusion, as the report found, there are many barriers preventing racialized students, law students, and lawyers from entering and remaining within the practice of law. In my experience, addressing the issues of the lack of networks, the lack of mentors, and the difficulties associated with obtaining an articling position, will go a long way in overcoming these barriers.
Everyone in the profession, racialized, non-racialized, and even associations can and are playing a role in meeting this objective.
As a closing point, there is another barrier noted in the report; not having English as a first language or having an accent. With regard to this last point, international experience and second languages have increasingly become critical and a competitive advantage for a lawyer, so that barrier will soon become a strength. After all,
it is cool to have an accent!
