by Anne Bhanu Chopra

No day is the same! When you think of the word “routine,” it does not apply. You may have your coffee on your desk, researching, and preparing yourself to write an article to educate the profession on a specific issue related to discrimination and harassment, when the phone rings. That phone call could be from a lawyer, articling student, student or a staff member at a law firm. It is Anne Bhanu Chopra’s job to be available to the caller, to assist them in a variety of ways: 1) by providing them with a safe place for them to talk confidentially about a problem; 2) helping them identify the issues and the options available to them, as well as advice about those options; and 3) directing them to other resources, such as counselling.

Anne’s position is not a traditional ombudsperson, an advocate for the public; rather, it is closer to an organizational ombudsperson, which assists an organization, e.g. a bank, to resolve complaints from clients, informally and on a confidential basis. In fact, the LSBC Equity Ombudsperson is a neutral, independent, part-time position, funded by the Law Society of British Columbia, to assist the foregoing callers, confidentially on sensitive issues. The various other law societies have also adopted similar type positions, as they have equally found that callers are quite hesitant to avail themselves of the formal complaints system when it comes to sensitive issues such as sexual harassment or discrimination.

Anne believes there are still many law firms which are unfamiliar with how this mechanism could assist them if they integrated it into their internal policies. However, some firms have contacted Anne, on a pro-active basis, and have used the mechanism to resolve issues which have arisen in their firms. For example, Anne has received calls from partners who would like to approach another lawyer who has been sexually harassing a female lawyer in their firm. They resolved the situation by working on creating a strategy which suited the partner’s personality and his firm. The main function of the position is to deal with issues confidentially and to reach a resolution; the law firm can actually avail themselves of an independent, free resource to deal with the situation (on a pro-active basis) where it doesn’t have the expertise.

This is a wonderful position for anyone who has a multi-disciplinary background, because, when an issue arises, it calls for the ombudsperson to examine it from the employer’s, business, law, educational, human resources, and the client’s personal perspective. Anne personally finds it quite satisfying as she has that background. One of the best parts about working in this position is that she gets to use her legal training and background to do what she thought the law was about: empowerment! Further Anne gets to work with and learn from individuals who are bright, talented and want to give to the profession, like the benchers and the Equity and Diversity Committee. Lastly, she actively finds opportunities to eliminate systemic discrimination. For example, she joined the Mentoring Committee of the WLF at the very start, and did so with the intention of eliminating the bias for women, of not being able to readily find female mentors. Anne continues to work toward change, even though it is slow at times!

For more information you can contact Anne Bhanu Chopra, who credits the school playground for teaching her the basics of fairness and equality, at 604-687-2344.

Anne Bhanu Chopra, B.Comm., MIR (Queen’s) Equity Ombudsperson, Lawyer, Coach

This article was published in the August 2007 issue of BarTalk. © 2007 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.