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| Harjot Atwal |
I’m going to take a break from my regularly scheduled programming and talk about equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives as a whole (rather than focusing on one specific aspect). Why did I choose this discussion today? Obviously, the answer starts with mental health.
A couple of years ago, I watched the Law Society of Ontario’s (LSO’s) Mental Health Summit for Legal Professionals 2022, and the materials included chapters three, four and seven of a book titled It Burned Me All Down by Erin Durant. She reflects on her experiences with burnout, mental health and big law. Having recently read the whole book, I consider it to be a trailblazing work, particularly for the candour that the author displays in discussing her difficulties.
A number of interesting observations are also made about EDI in general, some that I had noticed myself, some that had escaped my attention and some that were simply expressed more eloquently than I could have done. Consider the following quote from pg. 31:
“A related problem that Big Law faces is the issue of broader diversity in the legal profession for other equity seeking groups such as racialized lawyers, LGBTQ2S+ individuals, those with disabilities and those from different socio-economic backgrounds. Often law firms are very vocal externally about their diversity and inclusion efforts, but progress is not made or seen to be made internally. You would be hard pressed to find any Big Law firm without a section of their website dedicated to advertising how great they are at attracting, promoting, and supporting their diverse talent. They recognize that doing so is good for business because their clients care about diversity. The firms also brag about their diversity initiatives during student recruitment. However, often actions do not match the words and marketing campaigns.”
As a brief aside before continuing the EDI discussion, I should mention the LSO has been having its mental health summits since 2021. Its history and purpose are described here, and it is a free way to get four continuing professional development (CPD) hours each year. I think everyone could benefit from watching them.
In the aforementioned book, an example is given of Black History Month. Many firms announce the existence of the month, and there is usually some kind of internal event and external marketing campaign. Despite this celebration, as I have also noticed in the past, the book mentions it is rare to actually see many Black partners listed on these firms’ websites.
Lawyers from other racialized backgrounds experience similar issues, as was noted in the LSO’s report on Working Together For Change: Strategies To Address Issues Of Systemic Racism In The Legal Professions. For instance, submissions were made from a number of groups, including the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, the Roundtable of Diversity Associations, the Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, the South Asian Bar Association, the Equity Advisory Group, the Canadian Hispanic Bar Association and the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers. Apparently, several solutions were recommended in the LSO report, but not all were followed. The positive spin is to say: Progress, not perfection, right?
Personally, I’m not sure I would know. I’ve talked with other South Asian lawyers, for example (as I am Indian), and they have mentioned experiencing microaggressions based on the colour of their skin. I asked my mother about this, and we both agreed that we could not think of specific instances of this occurring in our lives (outside of maybe the days after 9/11 when everyone was a bit more sensitive). Perhaps we are oblivious? Ignorance is bliss? I’ll leave it to the aforementioned groups to work further on these issues.
Let’s move on to women in law. I’m not a woman, so I can’t speak about the emotional experience involved, but I can discuss it intellectually. Whether it is not being invited to the same networking events or business trips, being made to more likely do “office housework” (i.e., non-billable work), listening to comments about how firms have problems with “women lawyers having babies and not coming back to the firm” (pg. 27 of that book) or not being promoted to partnership as often as their male colleagues, it seems strange that this should be the state of affairs given that women started outnumbering men in Canadian law schools more than 30 years ago.
I should mention that I am proud my old firm has a women’s network. The very first email I received from the chief operating officer in October 2018 after getting my job (even though I was not set to start working there until the next month) was about them publishing this new web page and having their first event. She told me she did not want me to miss out, and I could invite women in business. I invited two.
Female lawyers also report more burnout as discussed by the American Bar Association (ABA) here. As compared to 41 per cent of male lawyers, female lawyers felt burned out more with this statistic rising to 56 per cent. They experienced greater issues with disrupted sleep, anxiety, physical health issues and depression, with only 10 per cent of female lawyers saying they experienced none of these symptoms as opposed to 21 per cent of male lawyers saying they experienced none. Female lawyers also spend 3.3 hours less time on self-care per week than male lawyers.
In trying to be well-rounded on the mental health side of things, I think this article from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) discussing men’s mental health issues is helpful because two of the three authors are women. You can read the article for more details, but I did find it interesting that social barriers such as societal stigma, fear of judgment and lack of skills to communicate emotions may prevent men from seeking treatment.
From my experience, such factors no doubt also make it difficult for men to openly disclose their mental health issues, if perhaps engaging in advocacy. Whereas societal stigma and fear of judgment almost certainly negatively affect women in terms of publicly discussing their issues too, I believe females are better at conveying their emotions (whether engaging in advocacy or not), and my poor communication of what I am feeling (as a male) has perhaps been the biggest bane to effectively explaining my symptoms to the doctors tasked with helping me.
Back to EDI. So, I guess some firms try and some firms pay lip service. I would imagine that many lawyers look at partnership promotions and new hire announcements in order to see if law firms practise what they preach. At times, I know I have. While we can rely on equity-seeking groups to keep raising issues and organizing events encouraging inclusivity (such as Start Proud’s Out on Bay Street Conference hosting legal moots perhaps about discrimination based on sexual orientation), certain individuals will analyze the statistics behind law firm promotion and hiring decisions to see if true progress is being made. I get the feeling not all will be impressed.
Overall, I do think things have improved to acknowledge the concerns of many equity-seeking groups, as compared to past times (perhaps decades ago) when EDI wasn’t really on anybody’s radar. We just need to keep trying to keep progressing forward, I guess.
I’ll end with a quote from Nellie Borrero: “Diversity is a fact, but inclusion is a choice we make every day. As leaders, we have to put out the message that we embrace and not just tolerate diversity.”
Harjot Atwal is a real estate lawyer. In 2023, he opened up his own shop, Atwal Law Firm. You can reach him via email at harjot@atwallawfirm.ca, by phone at 905-264-8926 or on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, Law360 Canada, LexisNexis Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
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