Practising law can be challenging for anyone, but many racialized lawyers face additional barriers based on institutionalized inequality. Those barriers are not insurmountable, however, and professional success is indeed possible.
In May we’re presenting Leading Change: Leadership Development for Racialized Lawyers, the first CBA conference of its kind. Though the title says “racialized lawyers,” the conference is open to lawyers of all backgrounds who want to hone their executive presence. It will feature sessions on topics such as developing your executive presence, learning how to be an “authentic” leader, and building resilience. Another session will highlight successful lawyers sharing the challenges and life lessons they learned along the way.
CBA Vice-President Vivene Salmon is the conference Chair. She says while the CBA has a strong commitment to the principles of diversity and inclusion, it has “faced challenges in providing equal opportunities and promoting talent within firm and other legal institutions.”
She notes that diversity and inclusion are the theme of President Ray Adlington’s year. In his podcast series, Conversations with the President: Raising the Bar on Inclusion, he has talked with members of equity-seeking groups about their experiences in the legal profession. The March 14 episode features interviews with Charlene Theodore of Ontario, one of the organizers of the leadership bootcamp, and David Curry, a Crown attorney from Nova Scotia. The podcast can be found on the CBA website.
“No matter where you want to go in your career, as a young, new or racialized lawyer, you’ll be able to pick up just real nuggets of wisdom and knowledge from everybody’s stories,” says Charlene Theodore about the conference.
“The conference is a very small way in inching the dial forward for racialized and non-racialized lawyers, in a globally challenging year,” Vivene says.
“I think you walk away with a toolkit of how you can develop your own legal career to get on the path to be a leader and an influencer in the legal profession.”
To learn more, and to register for the May 16 conference in Toronto, please visit the website.