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20 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m he legal profession con- tinues to check itself in the post-Harvey Weinstein era, and law firms are being reminded to review and follow their internal policies. But there are indications that more needs to be done and the legal pro- fession isn't immune to the #MeToo movement, which has the propensity to steamroll over careers, including that of the movie mogul. Workforces across the professional spectrum seem to have been struck by the #MeToo movement, profession by profession. And the results of a recent survey of articling students by the Law Society of Ontario is a clear indica- tion that law firms are not immune to intolerable behaviour and have their own struggles. The survey, in which 21 per cent of respondents indicated they had been subject to unwanted attention or harassment, provides only a glimpse. Le Barreau du Quebec is also in the throes of launching its own survey. But the message is clear: Harassment exists in all professions, including law firms, and some are seeing recent events as a call to action to step up prevention and response efforts. "I think the culture of law firms is not so different from that of other workplaces, which is not so different from the culture in society generally. So, I wouldn't be surprised that sexual harassment is prevalent in law firms," says Gail Gatchalian, a Halifax employ- ment lawyer with Pink Larkin, who chairs the Canadian Bar Association's national labour and employment law section and is active in the women law- yers' forum. Through her experience as legal counsel for unions, Gatchalian believes personal harassment is relatively com- mon in workplaces and she suspects that because of its power imbalances that harassment and bullying are just as pervasive in the legal industry. The Ontario survey offers just a glimpse. She would like to see a deeper dive into the issue to get a better picture of how prevalent harassment is in law firms. The Federation of Law Societies' code of conduct prohibits any type of harassment with any individual. As places of work, law firms are covered by human rights legislation requiring them to have a policy in place that addresses sexual harassment and sets out a com- plaint investigation procedure. But if all law firms do have policies and procedures in place, Gatchalian questions whether they're well known L AW O F F I C E M A N A G E M E N T By Marg. Bruineman NATHAN HACKETT Dealing with harassment Law firms struggle with how to deal with sexual harassment, but changes are afoot T the workplace issue