Canadian Lawyer InHouse

49 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY/AUGUST 2018 P r o f e s s i o n a l P r o f i l e a great platform for celebrating South Asian lawyers, but she says it's also instrumental in bringing the unique issues South Asian lawyers face to the Law Society of Ontario and working with additional equity-seeking groups to find solutions to these issues. Diversity is something Asnani has al - ways been passionate about and she works at championing it at Choice Properties REIT. Along with some colleagues who are also part of the Weston Legal Group — lawyers who work for Loblaw Companies' brands such as Choice, Shoppers Drug Mart, Lo - blaws, etc. — she is part of the diversity and inclusion group. In previous years, she played a role in planning events for the group, such as panel discussions to further the initiative of pro - moting diversity and inclusion. She's re- cently stepped back from doing that and has focused more on the creation and advance- ment of the legal group's statement of prin- ciples — a requirement set forth by the LSO. The goal of their statement of principles is to take a pulse of the representation of women and people of colour in legal roles by examining hiring criteria, reducing un - conscious bias when hiring and looking at employee retention in the long term. Choice Properties REIT often outsourc- es legal work to external counsel in private practice, and even then, Asnani says, they ask themselves: What are these partners doing to ensure diversity and mirror their values? This action is also part of their di - versity and inclusion statement. She says it's important to her that her em- ployer is open to diversity and inclusion ini- tiatives because it aligns with her core moral values. In fact, as a millennial generation lawyer, Asnani adds that this is a character- istic of her age group. "We're looking for a career that's more in line with our DNA," she says of her genera- tion. "I think you really have to find a job, a career path that's looking to move with the way your personal values are ever evolving." IH SECOND SNAPSHOT T H E L A W Y E R Jennifer Asnani T H E C O M P A N Y Choice Properties REIT • Earned J.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2009 • Undergraduate degree from the Ivey School of Business at Western University in London, Ont. • Called to the Ontario Bar in 2010 and the Alberta Bar in 2011 • Articled at Keel Cottrelle LLP in Toronto • Studied abroad for six months in Hong Kong during her undergrad and four months abroad in Switzerland during law school • Life motto is, "Trust the timing of your life." © 2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00250IV-A91670-CM Available risk-free for 30 days Online: store.thomsonreuters.ca Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 | In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Order # L7798-8398-65203 $425 Hardcover approx. 950 pages March 2018 978-0-7798-8398-1 Shipping and handling are extra. Price(s) subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes New Publication Environmental Class Actions in Canada André Durocher Negative coverage of environmental class actions carries high reputational risk to businesses and government entities. In this practical new work, a leading practitioner in class action litigation and environmental law shows how class actions can (or cannot) help to resolve environmental problems. Environmental Class Actions in Canada will help you better understand: • How class action law works in general • The issues relevant to multiple industries and sectors that can lead to legal liability • The specifi c stages of class actions and how these impact time and budgets • How class actions have succeeded or failed in a specifi c area, and how they were settled and when • The potential for class certifi cation • The risk associated with class action litigation Environmental class actions What works and what doesn't NEW

• Cover