Partner Level Chan recently spoke with author Jennifer Brown for her Canadian Lawyer article on the diversity of senior leadership at Canadian law firms.

A study by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, which surveyed firms around the country, found that representation for equality-seeking groups in the legal profession has not significantly changed in the past three years. Level believes that the reason for this can be attributed to an issue of retention and advancement – while women and racialized individuals tend to populate a large majority of firm associates or entry level positions, they often leave private practice before becoming equity partners or senior leadership. “So long as you’re not getting racialized lawyers as partners, you’re similarly not really going to get racialized people in leadership roles and that also applies to women,” said Level. While this survey did not collect data from Canadian law schools, Level believes that will be an important piece of the puzzle: “I know in speaking to deans at law schools they do see [diversity of law students] as an issue and are working on it…”