Canadian Lawyer

letters to the editor Two thoughts on LGBT diversity It was good to see your commentary piece, The Future of Law [Canadian Lawyer, July 2012]. I have an interest in diversity, particularly the LGBT angle, and I don't disagree with your observations about the lamentable state of the legal com- munity in this regard, and also with the strides forward that some law firms, mine included, have been able to make. Also, as a member of the Board of Pride at Work Canada, I'm also pleased that you saw the value of our recent ProPride event. However, I'd like to offer two thoughts. While there is an assumption that lack of partner-level visibility means a associates, who are far more vulnerable, happily publicly identify as some flavour of LGB or T without so much as a second thought. My other thought, driven by my own experience and observations, is that culture of fear, or at least ambivalence, I am not so sure that is the case. My personal sense is that partner sensibilities are driven more by the pursuit of the dollar and tyranny of the billable hour than a true reluctance to be visibly LGBT. Unless it is a business driver, most partners simply don't have the time or the inclination to bother outing themselves. They are on a career track that rewards them for being good lawyers, not good gay lawyers. It may also be an age-and- stage issue — at 40-something, my being gay is no longer interesting to me. I'm preoccupied with other things now, the usual things at this stage of life — parent- ing issues, eldercare, whether to sell or renovate, etc. This doesn't mean there's a culture of fear or non-inclusiveness but it does, unfortunately, create an absence of leadership. the showcase pieces that herald the new dawn of LGBT acceptance. I'm not sure that's correct. By and large, my experience is that most partners, by virtue of age, isolation and career demands, are fairly out of step with the lived reality of gays on the ground. I think it speaks more to a firm's culture of inclusiveness that The flip side of this is the built-in presumption that partners are the big fish, the ascendancy of LGBT inclusiveness in law firms is timed to coincide with the rise of the post-gay world. Less charitably phrased, law firms may have missed the boat; the gay agenda may, in fact, be sooooo last year, at least in Toronto. Within the ranks of junior associates and articling students, for instance, I regu- larly encounter 20-somethings who will date a boy one week, and a girl the next and think nothing of either. This, after all, is a generation that has always been able to marry either a boy or girl. They are lawyers first, thank you very much, and the rest is details. So where does that leave the law? Lest anyone think I'm a nay-saying defeatist, let me firmly state that I do believe that these various programs and initiatives and memberships have value. The issue of LGBT inclusiveness on Bay Street has not been solved, and I have no desire to undermine the work that is being done by some forward-thinking law firms. However, I wonder what inclu- siveness looks like for myself, and for a generation coming up behind me, who eschew identity politics in favour of their own personal identity, which can be maddeningly fluid and unapologetically so. Canadian Lawyer welcomes letters to the editor but reserves the right to edit for space, taste, and libel considerations. Please include your full contact information in all correspondence. Comments from canadianlawyermag.com Re: The future of law July 2010 As a visible minority and recent call, I can tell you that diversity is nothing more than a word on Bay Street. The various "diversity programs" on Bay street are toothless, and do not have any statistics to track progress. Unfortunately, the only group that has achieved some sort of progress are white women. But I hope this trend continues, so that Bay Street firms continue their discriminatory hiring policies and continue to hire unqualified people based solely on the colour of their skin. I call this White Affirmative Action. The only acceptable kind it seems. CORPORATE-COMMERCIAL LAW CRIMINAL/HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CHANGEMAKERS GOVERNMENT/NON-PROFIT/ASSOCIATIONS OUTLIERS August 2012 $7.00 ARE HAVING THE MOST DOUGLAS BLACK CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN WINKLER LAURIE PAWLITZA PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT # 40766500 Send your letters to: gail.cohen@thomsonreuters.com www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com SEPTEMBER 2012 7 WHICH LAWYERS IMPACT? INFLUENTIAL MOST 25 TOP Re: Top 25 Most Influential August 2010 So there are no influential lawyers east of Montreal? There are no francophone influential lawyers and there are no influential lawyers in Manitoba and Sas- katchewan? The contest is obviously Toronto-centric so why not call it that or don't have winners in a year where you don't get a reasonable distribution of nomi- nations? They live where they live. I do not think it is an issue of where people reside at all. Perhaps next year [Melinda Munro] can recommend some nominees. Lots of selected lawyers were from Ottawa . . . so one could call the contest Ottawa-centric, if one expands on your thinking. Really, these people all did great things and should be in the spotlight. Well deserved nomi- nees and make Canada a better place to be! Hopefully next year, we will find other equally strong candidates and they will get their turn to be recognized. — online comment from BARB DORRINGTON — online comment from MELINDA MUNRO Curious that four of these individual currently hold judicial office. By virtue of being judges these individu- als are no longer lawyers and should not be included in this roster. It is also disappointing that no lawyers from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, or the maritime provinces are included. There are many lawyers doing important advocacy in those jurisdictions. A more representative list should be compiled in future. — online comment from GRAEME MITCHELL Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, Toronto Kirsten Thompson — online comment from THE TRUTH THE

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