profession that is representative
of the public. That is not the case
now.”
Of women called to the bar in
2003, 66 per cent retained practising status by 2008, according
to LSBC figures. Of equity partners in medium and large firms,
women represented between 16
and 20 per cent. Using current
trends, research shows women
Focus is on the decline
among female lawyers
British Columbia law society
benchers have approved a
$12,000 project aimed at retaining women in private practice in
the legal profession.
Bencher Robert Brun, chairman of the society’s equality and
diversity advisory committee,
explained that the Justicia Project follows from a similar
endeavour in which the Law
Society of Upper Canada and
Ontario legal firms developed
initiatives for the retention and
advancement of female lawyers,
including parental and flexible
work policies, mentoring programs, and business development programs.
Quoting an LSUC report,
Brun’s committee report said the
project’s aim has been to “create a
shift in our legal culture and lead
the way for innovative, systemic
change that works for the profes-
sion and the public.”
Further, the committee
report says, Justicia makes good
business sense, as increasing
numbers of clients are seeking
out law firms that actively pro-
mote diversity.
“Keeping women lawyers in
the profession is a key objective
for the law society,” president
Gavin Hume said “As the regulator, it’s our job to ensure the public interest is met, and we believe
people are best served by a legal
Any time you are
disproportionately
losing part of your
demographic, you are
losing talent. These
are people who are
the future of our firm.
“
Michelle Lang,
Norton Rose OR LLP
will not reach parity with men in
firm partnerships until 2088.
That parity is not just in firms.
In a December article on the
slaw.ca website, lawyer coach
Linda Robertson comments on
the lack of gender diversity in
judicial appointments, with not
enough senior female lawyers to
fill the roles.
“The challenge with women
reaching parity with men in the
legal profession is that, despite
graduating slightly more women
than men from law school since
the mid-nineties, women leave
the profession at twice the rate as
men,” Robertson said.
“We definitely want to build as
much as possible on work that
has already been done,” Tam said.
Brun said a managing partners’ summit would be held late
in 2012 to discuss progress, and
by the end of the year he hopes to
have a report along with recommendations for future action.
The second phase, from April
to November 2012, would focus on
regional firms that may have different concerns and needs with
respect to policies to support
female lawyers. They may also
have different capacities and infrastructures to develop and implement programs, the report says.
It is then expected that there
would be another managing
partners’ summit, possibly
together with the larger firm
summit next November.
Brun said the project could be
part of an overall strategy to
move women, as well as indigen-
ous people and visible minor-
ities, into the profession to the
point where they are putting
themselves forward in leader-
ship roles, such as at the bench-
ers’ table.
Access, standards among LSUC priorities
THOMAS CLARIDGE TORONTO
Law Society of Upper Canada
(LSUC) benchers gave quick
approval at their December Convocation to six priorities in their four-year term, which began last June.
Recommended in a report from
LSUC’s priority planning committee, headed by treasurer Laurie
Pawlitza, the six were based largely
on input during a three-day closed
bencher planning session held in
September.
The six priority areas ultimately
selected were: access to justice;
competence and professional
standards; equity, diversity and
retention; tribunal issues; business structures/law firm financing, and professional regulation.
The access to justice priority
included both access generally and
as it relates to family law issues.
Addressing it will include
reviewing LSUC’s role in facilitat-
ing access to legal and administra-
tive services, including publicly
accessible information, legal refer-
ral services, legal aid, alternative
dispute resolution, legal expense
insurance and pro bono services,
including limited scope retainers,
licensing options as a means to
increase access and court and pro-
cedural reforms.
n;Mentoring and support for
licensees, including mentoring
programs, advisory services and
practice supports;
n;Technological applications for
learning, assessment and assistance, and
n;National standards.
Included in the area of equity,
diversity and retention were
review and consideration of “
processes and initiatives to ensure
that equity principles are observed
and promoted”; development of
programs for other equity-seeking
groups, using LSUC’s Justicia
model as a means to facilitate the
initiatives, and communications
strategies for promoting equity
and diversity.
Under tribunal issues, the com-
mittee observed that the law soci-
ety’s primary responsibility as a
regulator is public protection.
“Central to the responsibility to
protect the public is a hearing pro-
cess that is fair, transparent and
efficient. As hearings become
more complex and the number of
cases increases, steps need to be
taken to enhance the way in which
the Law Society delivers its regula-
tory mandate at the tribunal level.”
Addressing this priority would
include reviews of adjudicator
training, the quality of adjudica-
tion, use of technology in the hear-
ing process, enhancements to pro-
cedures and processes to improve
effectiveness and efficiency, and
the appropriate model for the
hearing process.
