Articles

Welcome and thank you for staying current with the Women Lawyers Forum. The Women Lawyers Forum's newsletter contains articles on topics important to women lawyers, including a recent article on sexist language in the profession (That’s Not My Name - Advice for Responding to Sexist Language in the Practice of Law). Our goal is to engage women and facilitate discussions about the benefits and challenges of being a female lawyer.

“Because it’s 2015.” It has been almost one year since PM Justin Trudeau’s simple explanation for gender parity in his first Cabinet. This decision was hailed as an important and long-overdue step towards substantive gender equality, but we are hardly living in a post-gender world - in politics or in law.

Welcome to another great year of programs, events and blog posts with the OBA-WLF! I am delighted to welcome several new members to the section executive, and thank the hardworking 2015-2016 executive members for all of their passion, commitment and contribution.

A compilation of links to articles, podcasts, and videos that may be of interest to members of the OBA Women Lawyers Forum. Have suggested content for this feature? Email the link to Justine Johnston at justine.johnston@blakes.com.

With the exception of one of our articling students, the entire legal team in my office (lawyers, paralegals, clerks and administrative assistants) is female. When I started working in my current office, I was a bit apprehensive and stereotypical worries filled my head. Luckily, my fears proved to be completely unfounded and over the past ten months I’ve come to recognize the many tangible benefits that working in a team of women brings to my practice.

A compilation of links to articles, podcasts, and videos that may be of interest to members of the OBA Women Lawyers Forum. Have suggested content for this feature? Email the link to Justine Johnston at jvsjohnston@gmail.com.

The Women's Legal Mentorship Program (“WLMP”) began in response to the growing issue surrounding the retention of women in the law. The WLMP is focused on shifting the culture of the legal profession and eliminating the barriers facing the retention of all women within the legal profession through its mentorship, leadership and professional development programming.

As the store shelves slowly fill up with back to school essentials I am reminded of two things: one, I happily will never be a student again; and, two, I had a lot of awesome support getting me through my last year of law school while pregnant. I know there may be other women out there who are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant while in law school and so this article gives my top 6 survival strategies to make it through 9 months of growing a baby and learning the law.

Despite having been written into the Ontario legal profession’s “moral code”, sexist language continues to be a problem in the practice of law. This is at least in part because our governing laws formally prohibit discrimination and harassment, but do not create a positive obligation to address repetitive, ubiquitous, and insidious forms of sexism that disempower women within the profession.