Katherine Hensel was a guest speaker at the Law Society of Ontario’s International Women’s Day event where women leaders shared their experiences and barriers that they overcame to sustain their legal careers.
According to Katherine, who was one of ten featured speakers, “Senior counsel are obligated to address the challenges mothers face in the profession and call out any undue new barriers that make it even harder to carry out their legal practice.” To read the Law Times article, click here.
Foglers takes pride in recruiting, supporting, and fostering the careers of women lawyers.
In honour of International Women’s Day, weare thrilled to announce the creation of our women@foglers mentorship program, spearheaded by Teodora Prpa and Hailey Abramsky, two young and driven female lawyers at our firm.
women@foglers is an internal program designed to cultivate our firm’s female talent by maximizing career development through guidance, support and one-to-one mentoring.
In celebration of Black History Month, we had the pleasure of hosting a virtual event to hear and learn from the Honourable Dr. Jean Augustine, social justice advocate and the first African-Canadian woman elected to the House of Commons.
Everyone in attendance was inspired by her story and career, and her historic role in passing the landmark motion to designate February as Black History Month in Canada.
I’m listening. Keep talking. Four powerful words.
Today is #BellLetsTalk day, and this year’s campaign encourages everyone to keep listening, keep talking about mental health, and keep being there for each other.
Bell Let’s Talk Day is an important day to discuss and create awareness around mental health. This year our firm came together virtually to hear from Dr. David Goldbloom from CAMH, who talked about common misconceptions about mental illness and shared insights for supporting mental wellness.
Fogler Rubinoff (FR) supports the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) which require fairness and respect to all individuals.
We strive to ensure that each and every person in our workplace and professional environment is valued regardless of their race, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age or any other protected ground under the Human Rights Code. We recognize that all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women, racialized persons, Indigenous persons, LGBTQ2+[1] persons, persons with disabilities, and religious groups, must be eliminated. EDI is intrinsic to the character and reputation of our firm, of who we are, and who we strive to be.
To achieve these important goals we are committed to adopting EDI in all aspects of our firm culture. We strive to achieve EDI in hiring our staff and lawyers, in our relationships and daily interactions with the lawyers, staff, administration and clients of our firm, and in our dealings with other members of the legal profession.
We are also committed to eliminating systemic discrimination, promoting equality, and preventing harassment in all aspects of our firm culture and in our relationships with our staff, lawyers, clients, other members of the profession and the public at large. We understand that ending systemic discrimination and promoting equality is important to the health, safety and job satisfaction of everyone at our firm and to our success as a business and professional organization. We understand that this is not just a professional and legal obligation but also the right thing to do.
We are proud to publicly state the firm’s commitment to achieve measurable progress in EDI. To this end, we have created an EDI Committee to work on key areas that require attention and to review EDI action at our firm and create programs which teach and advance EDI principles for the entire firm.
EDI requires ongoing effort. The following is a summary of the principles we are committed to advancing and the initiatives we are working on to achieve them:
Fogler Rubinoff is committed to ensuring that our offices are accessible to our staff and the public both physically and emotionally. To ensure accountability respecting our commitment to EDI we:
FR understands that respect and understanding are crucial to our EDI initiatives. We are willing to learn and expand our knowledge and core beliefs regarding race, racism and all forms of discrimination. In order to foster respect and understanding we acknowledge that:
Education is fundamental to our EDI policy. We acknowledge that EDI education is essential to serving our clients and to fostering an open and inclusive firm environment. FR is committed to educating members of the firm on concepts such as anti-racism, anti-oppression, and unconscious bias, in order to better work with and serve all members of our community. Our educational initiatives include:
FR is committed to creating an inclusive workplace which includes:
FR believes that valuing and enhancing diversity and inclusion will help us attract and retain the best talent and better serve our clients. We are committed to creating a diverse workplace that reflects the community in which we live. Our goal is to attract, develop, and advance people of all backgrounds and genders. For this purpose FR has engaged in initiatives to:
FR recognizes that women, racialized persons, Indigenous persons, LGBTQ2+ persons, persons of various religious backgrounds, and persons with disabilities often face barriers and challenges that impact their ability to reach their potential. FR is committed to ensuring all members of the firm have equal opportunities to participate, gain experience, and excel. We recognize that this is for the betterment of our firm and society in general. FR is committed to ensuring that:
[1] By using LGBTQ2+ we intend to include all groups which identify with this acronym. We are committed to being as inclusive as possible.
September 30, 2021 marks Canada’s first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
On this day of reflection, our lawyers and staff came together to hear from Chief Laurie Carr of Hiawatha First Nation, who spoke to us about the injustices that occurred at Residential Schools, the 60s Scoop and the present-day MMIWG.
Today, we encourage everyone to take the time to reflect, learn and have meaningful conversations about the harm committed against Indigenous Peoples.
Despite our best intentions, research shows we all have it – unconscious, unintentional bias. Unconscious attitudes and beliefs are shaped by all kinds of influences – some of which we would not agree with or accept on a conscious level.
Yet, these unconscious thoughts influence decision-making and can have a profound impact in the workplace on talent management decisions, including recruiting and hiring. The key is to learn how to recognize your own unconscious biases as well as practical ways to interrupt them.
In this interactive DE&I leadership workshop, guest speaker Kathleen Nalty lead lawyers and staff through the following concepts:
It’s no secret to anyone that 2020 was a very difficult year. We have all had to face new – and in many cases – very important challenges, both in our professional and personal lives. In a year that was like no other, we are however thankful for the loyalty of our clients, the support of our fellow professional community and the dedication of our people.
As the enormity of the pandemic became apparent, we looked to provide our clients with clarity in the face of confusion. To break through the clutter, members of our team produced over 100 COVID-19 resources providing timely analysis of the business and legal challenges faced by our clients and broader community. We learned to pivot our practice remotely and this flexibility allowed us to find new ways to connect with and serve our clients in more efficient ways. In a year marked by distance, we fostered a sense of community and recognized the importance of coming together in ways that honour the diversity of ideas and experiences, and to learn from each other.
The start of 2021 has already been unpredictable, with continued concerns around the spread of COVID-19 variants, delays in the roll out of the vaccine, and like many we all wondering whether we are at the beginning of the end of the pandemic or the end of the beginning. Despite this uncertainty, the new year signals an opportunity to reaffirm our commitments and look ahead. In recent months we’ve built upon our collective strengths and welcomed new lawyers to our Insolvency, Corporate Finance, Real Estate, Tax & Wills and Estates, Securities and Litigation teams to help scale up and support our clients. We continue to invest in our technology and our people; and we are optimistic that the sense of community which has prevailed throughout the pandemic will continue.
COVID-19 has cancelled many things, but it can’t cancel kindness. Throughout it all we’ve been inspired by the stories of innovation, selflessness, and resilience we’ve heard from our clients, colleagues, and in our wider community with frontline and essential workers. I speak for everyone at Foglers when I say that we are entering the new year with a renewed sense of hope as we all work together to chart a path forward.
Michael Slan
Managing Partner
Fogler, Rubinoff LLP
Michael Coleman speaks with Queens’ Law about the formation of the Queen’s Chapter of the Black Law Students’ Association
In the article A Grand Idea Whose Time Had Come, Michael Coleman, speaks with Queen’s Law about the establishment of the Queen’s Law Chapter of the Black Law Students’ Association and the role the Association has played in empowering a new community of legal professionals.
June is National Indigenous History Month, and 21 June National Indigenous People’s Day.
There is no more fitting time to honour the history, heritage and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada. We encourage all Canadians to join us in learning more about the Indigenous history in the communities where we live and work, acknowledging the systemic racism and discrimination that exists in our institutions in Canada and elsewhere, and supporting and effecting the changes which are needed to combat that injustice.
