Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A P R I L 2 0 1 6 9 \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP awkwardly put on his robe and tab over his suit and tie, instead of the usual shirt and vest that are part of the outfit, and ended up being chided by the judge. That said, a lawyer who was in a similar courthouse for a pro forma motion in a criminal case realized he was the only law- yer present who had no robe, provoking smirks all around. He addressed the issue himself, before the judge said anything. He explained he'd been caught by surprise by the new rule, which had recently been introduced, and offered to have a duly robed colleague fill in for him for this brief task (a less-than-a-minute- long procedure). The judge didn't hesitate to allow him to pro- ceed, without the regulation wear, but this time only. This lawyer said he has occasionally seen lawyers wearing clothes less than distinguished, like dresses showing too much cleavage or worn-out suits. The female offenders tend to be too sexy, while the male offenders are generally too sloppy, but there is no crisis, he said. The vast majority are dressed properly. He sees the new rule as a measure to underline and maintain an atmosphere of civility. It reads: "Except in civil practice, lawyers wear a black robe closed in front with a black jacket, a white shirt, collar and bands, dark clothing and appropriate footwear at all times in the courtroom. "Male lawyers and notaries, in cases where the wearing of a robe is not required, wear trousers, a jacket, shirt and tie in plain taste and appropriate footwear, and female lawyers and notaries wear a skirt or trousers with a blouse and jacket or a plain dress with appropriate footwear. "The same rules apply to articling students, minus the bands." Some practitioners are happy with the rule since they see it as creating a level playing field. Others find it backward-looking and unnecessarily restrictive, taking the U.S. as an example, where no one wears the robe. Eventually, the rule will be relaxed again, thinks one lawyer, before a few practitioners veer off again and bring the need to snap everyone to attention once more. — PASCAL ELIE pascalelie636@gmail.com A study by the Criminal Lawyers' Association recommends a series of changes to retain more female sole practitioners in criminal law. The report, authored by Dr. Nata- sha Madon, looks at whether female sole practitioners are leaving criminal law in greater numbers than men and, if so, why and what can be done to reverse the trend. "The report is showing we are los- ing women with years and years of expe- rience. From a professional standpoint, losing women in any field is a problem," says Breese Davies, a sole practitioner and co-chairwoman of the CLA working group that commissioned the study. The report, released in early March, is the first systemic look at data on women in criminal practice in Ontario. "A num- ber of dominant themes emerged from the focus group discussions, framing the challenges that women — at various stag- es of their career — believed impacted women," states the report. "A large pro- portion of women discussed the financial and logistical difficulties associated with taking time off to have a child." It makes a series of recommendations, including that better mentoring oppor- tunities be available in the defence and criminal law bars. It also recommends education for the judiciary and firm stop times for court matters in the evenings. The study is based on a series of focus groups conducted with senior female lawyers, junior lawyers, Crown lawyers, female lawyers who work outside Toron- to, and female judges. It is also based on data from Legal Aid Ontario, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and a CLA sur- vey of female members. Davies says a few statistics jumped out to her, including that for all lawyers called in 1994 and 1995 who started out in criminal law, almost half had left the practice within 10 years. However, the numbers show that 60 per cent of women left compared to 47 per cent of men. Between the five- and 10-year career mark, women are dropping out more quickly than men, and Davies says it shows if those female practitioners do return to legal practice, 20 per cent moved to government roles compared to two per cent for men. "The other startling statistic for me was that of the 47 women called in 1996 who started off doing criminal work in private practice, only 13 were still doing criminal law in private practice in 2014," says Davies. "And of the 50 women called in 1998-1999 who started doing criminal law in private practice, only 22 were left in 2014." Davies says the report builds on an LSUC study on the retention of women in private practice from 2005 to 2008. She says the new study was to explore why it appears female sole practitioners in criminal law are more likely to leave practice early. The CLA report identified the finan- cial challenge associated with being in private defence practice, with the unpre- dictability of income and the difficulties of building a business on one's own, coupled with heavy reliance on legal aid certificates, "ripe with inherent issues of low rates of pay and delayed payments for work done." Madon said many respon- dents expressed frustration over gendered differences in treatment by judges and other court officials, "making an already challenging career all the more difficult." Davies says all lawyers reliant on legal aid work don't have a stable source of income and often work much longer hours than they are compensated for. Also, while there is a parental leave pro- gram offered through the LSUC, Davies says with sole practitioners trying to pay for an office and staff and maintain a REPORT HIGHLIGHTS CHALLENGES OF CRIMINAL LAW PRACTICE FOR WOMEN Continued on page 10

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