Advocacy-Matters-Winter-2024

What advice would you give to other foreign-trained lawyers who are
considering pursuing a legal career in Canada? Are there particular steps
or resources that were especially helpful to you?
OO: Revisit the process of accepting articling students. There are obstacles to finding articling positions
for internationally-trained lawyers, many of whom are already practicing lawyers with life demands and
other familial and financial pressures. Law firms need to recognize and utilize the special and diverse
skills and views that internationally-trained lawyers bring by virtue of their previous experiences.
MK: (1) Canadian lawyers may be more prepared than you might expect to give up their time and speak
with you; (2) connect with the organization set up for Internationally Trained Lawyers and National Committee
on Accreditation lawyers to learn about the fundamentals of, and opportunities for, local legal
recruitment.
CC: Get involved. Getting involved in a local legal organization is a great way to build your network and
connect with other advocates. The Advocates’ Society is an incredible resource — for those within their
first 10 years of practice, I would encourage them to apply for a spot on the Society’s Young Advocates’
Standing Committee (YASC) when applications open up in late January. In the meantime, get out to
YASC events and consider joining YASC’s volunteer roster (details are all at advocates.ca).
OO: Seek out people with similar experiences for their knowledge, BUT don’t make associating with only
people of similar background or experience your main or only goal. You hopefully came to Canada for
its diversity. Find and approach mentors, lawyers and businesspeople alike.
VM: There are some groups, like the NCA Network, that have started to build communities for foreign-trained
lawyers, but my impression is that many foreign-trained lawyers end up working as law
clerks – if they can get into the legal job market – or are resigned to work in other completely unrelated
fields. There needs to be leadership from the top of the profession to educate themselves about the relative
strengths of lawyers trained in other jurisdictions so that there is less stigma attached to credentials
from other countries – especially non-Western countries.
Most people bring their cultural competencies to the workplace, along
with attendant biases and misconceptions. I used to think if you didn’t
address them, your life would be easier. I don’t necessarily challenge; I
educate.
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VM: I think that the most important thing that any foreign-trained lawyer can do is to manage their expectations
and to take care of themselves – it will likely take longer than you are expecting and there will
be many times when you feel discouraged, but it only takes one person saying yes.
In what ways can the legal community better support foreign-trained
lawyers in their career journeys?
CC: Give them an opportunity. While it’s easy to bring in those candidates for interviews whose transcripts
you understand, whose previous employers you recognize, and who volunteer for the same organizations
you do, take a chance on someone that might not be the typical candidate on paper and grant
them an interview. You may find that the grit and determination they bring to the table outweighs the
fact that they went to school outside Canada.
MK: The legal community should recognize in their own self-interest (just as engineers, accountants, etc.
have done) that there is a vast pool of generally untapped talent overseas.
Looking ahead, what do you envision for the future of foreign-trained
lawyers in the Canadian legal landscape, and what steps can be taken to
further integrate and empower this diverse group within the profession?
VM: My hope is that lawyers trained in any country will feel that they can succeed in Canada and that
there will be lawyers in law firm leadership positions and in positions of authority who are not originally
from Canada and who did not earn their law degree in Canada. In terms of empowering foreign-trained
lawyers – as with any group, I think seeing people succeed in the profession who have a similar background
as you will go a long way to opening people’s minds to what’s possible, and I think that it’s important
for groups who are in a position to help foreign-trained lawyers – like The Advocates’ Society and
other legal associations– to start actively identifying and planning programs for foreign-trained lawyers
so that they feel supported by the profession.
OO: I think the legal profession is evolving and hopefully will only get better at absorbing this relatively
untapped well of lawyers. Involving internationally-trained lawyers in legal and management work at
their actual level of experience – as opposed to the assumption that every articling student should be
treated as equally junior – would be beneficial to both internationally-trained lawyers and to the law
firms that employ them.
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