Being inclusive at our firm means taking action to foster a supportive and flexible work environment that prioritizes the well-being and individual needs of all firm members and creating a safe workplace where everyone can achieve their full potential. We have executed projects, developed new programs, and enhanced our benefit policies to push ourselves forward in this area.

Celebrating our Differences

We acknowledge religious and cultural holidays celebrated by members across the firm through firmwide communications and events.

We have a Holidays & Observances Calendar, viewable by all firm members, to assist them in practicing inclusive planning and scheduling. This means we consider, and where appropriate, accommodate major holidays and observances prior to booking a trial, hearing, meeting, meal, event, or deadline, as firm members, clients, or external counsel may be taking time off or observing food restrictions.

We also provide each of our firm members four Personal Days, in addition to their vacation days, that can be used towards time away for personal reasons including but not limited to, mental health, wellness and wellbeing, religious observances and holidays, family events or other personal obligations.

Using Feedback to Grow

Our LS Suggestion Box allows all firm members to submit candid thoughts and suggestions about how we can improve as a firm. Each suggestion is reviewed by the Management Committee and if one naturally involves a process improvement, a task force is launched to further develop the idea and launch it in alignment with one of the firm’s business functions.

Our EDI Listening Box, following a similar process to the LS Suggestion Box, allows all firm members the opportunity to offer anonymous kudos, criticisms, comments, or thoughts about all matters of EDI at the firm. Each message is reviewed by the Chair of the EDI Committee and if appropriate, advanced for discussion with the broader committee, with management, or with the firm at large.

These feedback tools provide everyone at the firm with the opportunity to be valued, respected, and most importantly, heard.

Creating Space for Everyone

We have re-designed our physical space to support a more inclusive work environment that meets the diverse needs of our firm members, clients, and guests. We have revitalized our premises to provide amenities such as a gender inclusive washroom, a prayer/meditation room, a private space for nursing mothers, and a collaboration space for use by all firm members. We also honor our diverse community through art. In 2022 and 2023, we worked with curator Devyani Saltzman to identify and acquire several works with a focus on profiling emerging and established BIPOC Canadian and Indigenous artists.

Providing a Strong Foundation of Support

We are committed to ensuring our benefit policies are progressive, address the needs of our firm and what matters most to them, and are aligned with our EDI strategy. In the last few years, we have particularly expanded our benefits as it relates to parental leave, mental health coverage, and wellness.

Our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee is comprised of lawyers and business team members. Through planning and executing initiatives, events and educational sessions, creating progressive firm policies, and advancing community involvement, our committee leads the firm’s change efforts in strengthening our internal culture of inclusion.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Members:

We continue to make listening and learning a top priority in our efforts towards eliminating bias, celebrating our differences, and providing equitable opportunities for all. Every year, we host several important educational sessions. Select past topics have included:

• Critical Race Theory & Combatting Anti-Black Racism
• Learning & Unlearning the Contemporary Realities of Anti-Black Racism & It’s Impact on Legal Professionals
• The Recovery & Preservation of LGBTQ2IA+ Histories
• The History of the Two-Spirit Community in Canada
• Gender Affirming Care in Ontario & KS v Ontario (Health Insurance Plan)
• Reclaiming Indigenous Place Names
• A Virtual Tour of the Former Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School
• Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, A White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation
• Challenges of Reconciliation Through the Indigenous Lens
• Canada’s Progress Towards Reconciliation & How Individuals Can Contribute
• Anti-Semitism (Then & Now) & How to Strengthen our Allyship
• The Complicated Relationship Between Mental Health & High Performance
• Law & Litigation Reform for Gender Equity in Canada
• Unconscious Bias Training

To supplement our journey of education, we have curated and made available several catalogues of resources to inform firm members on the following topics: fighting for gender equity, anti-racism and allyship, how we can contribute to building a new, respectful relationship with Indigenous peoples, the challenges and triumphs of the LGBTQ2IA+ community, promoting mental health, and more.

We will continue to listen to all members of our firm and the wider community to learn how we can be part of the solution to addressing systemic racism in Canada, and beyond.

Student recruitment is amongst our most important hiring initiatives. We hire law students with the hope that they will become associates and eventually partners at our firm. As a diverse candidate pool is the first step to a diverse firm, we are dedicated to having an unbiased recruitment and selection system that addresses equity, diversity and inclusion issues in the legal industry and removes barriers to entry at all stages. Read more about our student program here.

Resume Anonymization

We have taken the bold step to anonymize student applications, applying an automated and manual process to remove candidates’ names from all documents. All other information submitted by candidates remain and are considered. This selection system helps our screeners and interviewers evaluate students on their skills and qualifications while helping address any unconscious biases and barriers against diverse candidates.

Lenczner Slaght was the first law firm in Canada to implement resume anonymization as part of the student recruitment process, as highlighted in the Globe and Mail.

Unconscious Bias Training and Standardized Interview Questions

Our application screeners and interviewers receive training on unconscious biases and interviewing skills on an annual basis. We have developed and implemented a set of standardized questions for use in our hybrid-structured student interview format in order to allow for greater objectivity and to reduce the interference of unconscious biases.

R&R Lounge

In-firm interviews can be stressful and demanding for law students. Instead of adding to their exhausting week with another cocktail reception, we provide an inclusive space where students can take a healthy break.

We invite all law students to “relax and recharge” between in-firm interviews at the Lenczner Slaght R&R Lounge located in the lobby of 130 Adelaide Street West (York Street and Adelaide Street West). This is not part of our recruitment process, and students will not encounter our lawyers in the Lounge. The space includes comfy couches, charging stations, free wi-fi, mindful snacks and juice, reading material, and more.

The R&R Lounge was instituted as a direct response to Precedent Magazine's’ cover story “The OCIs are Broken”, which presented eye-opening critique of how cocktail parties can potentially alienate diverse candidates. As our firm relies solely on interviews to select our summer students, we decided to replace the cocktail reception with an environment conducive to the mental health of all law students, even those who are not interviewing with our firm.

In 2019, the R&R Lounge received the inaugural Precedent Innovation Award for actively improving the legal profession by rethinking long-held traditions.

Access to Advocacy Internships

We partner with law schools to fund and launch summer internships for first- and second-year students who are interested in developing their advocacy skills at organizations with a focus on access to justice and social responsibility. Each of the students are chosen by their school’s career offices and preference is given to students with financial need and/or those who are first-generation lawyers.

These internships provide the next generation of advocates with more opportunities to gain advocacy experience. We hope it will help organizations, who would otherwise be unable to afford a summer intern, advance their public interest mandates.

Students from Queen’s Law, Osgoode Hall, Schulich School of Law, and University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law have participated in internships at the following organizations and Courts: Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Centre for Law and Democracy, Community Advocacy and Legal Centre, Industrial Accident Victim’s Group of Ontario, Innocence Canada, Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Ontario Superior Court, SHARE (Sexual Harassment and Assault Resource Exchange) Project at the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

We are committed to supporting and promoting the advancement of women at our firm and in the legal industry. In June 2019, we took a bold step toward gender equity and launched ReferToHer®, a series of lists, organized by practice group, of experienced female lawyers to whom you can confidently refer work.

As referrals are an important part of achieving business success, this program is meant to ensure that female lawyers are positioned as equal, available, resources for those seeking legal help. This is a step towards ensuring that, regardless of gender, clients are referred to the right lawyers.

Described as “break the box thinking”, the website has received over 80,000 visits since launch and has grown significantly to 29 lists across three categories with over 750+ listees. Milestones include:

• Launching ReferToHer® with an initial 10 litigation lists.
• Introducing a Corporate category, in partnership with McCarthy Tétrault, and a Supporting Legal Areas category.
• Creating RéfèrElle and a bilingual website to enhance accessibility and reach.
• Hosting a virtual networking event and brainstorm for listees on concretely advancing women in legal. The event was featured in The Globe & Mail and the ideas generated were sent to over 500+ listees across Canada to harness their influence and drive forward change.
• Developing Listservs to allow listees to find and suggest referrals, engage in discussion, share opportunities, and continue to build relationships.
• Celebrating International Women’s Day annually, and honouring our listees by donating over $25,000 to organizations across Canada focused on advancing and supporting women.
• Expanding the criteria to make lists more inclusive for senior associates facing barriers to becoming a partner.
• Partnering with the Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF) since 2021 as their exclusive matching donor of their Giving Tuesday campaign, helping almost triple their donations over the last three years.

To learn more, visit refertoher.com today and join us in balancing the scales on referrals.

We partner with, participate in, donate to, or sponsor prominent organizations who are committed to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in the legal and broader community. Over the past few years, we have supported:

We have also been increasingly intentional in supporting vendors and businesses run or owned by women, Black, Indigenous, or people of colour, and members of the LGBTQ2IA+ community.