Lawyer Demographics

As the following section illustrates, painting an accurate picture of diversity at each stage of a lawyer’s professional path from application through retirement is extremely challenging. Some provincial Law Societies have done a better job at collection this information than others. It is simply not a priority for some. Similarly, some law schools collect data regarding their 1L class while the majority do not (or do not post publicly that they collect this data). We can draw some limited conclusions, below, but methodological issues prevent an accurate understanding of diversity in the Canadian legal profession. We also know that diversity data is limited in its ability to reflect the wide range of social markers and is often a shallow representation of lived experiences. Nonetheless, it can give a window into gaps and trends. As other studies have shown, social markers have important correlations with where lawyers work, career advancement, and how long lawyers stay in the profession.

Law Schools

Increasing diversity in the legal profession begins with who is admitted to law schools. Nine of the 24 Canadian law schools publish first-year profile reports on diversity. Reporting is optional, and data only reflects the incomine 1L class. Eight of the law schools publish their data publicly. There are major discrepancies in collecting and reporting data on equity, diversity, and inclusion amongst the law schools. There are significant differences in the number and types of social markers collected in these surveys which makes it very difficult to draw cross-Canada conclusions about diversity in legal education.

LSAC

The Law School Admissions Council collects data on all first-year law students to create a class profile that reflects the incoming year. This is compared against previous years to identify trends and gaps. The LSAC ‘First-Year’ class profile collects demographic information such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other social markers. It also collects information regarding socioeconomic status.

The survey is not a compulsory component of the application process.  LSAC notes that, while this data is helpful to understand who is admitted to law school, it is not representative of the broader legal community, or even a complete profile of an incoming class.

Both American and Canadian students apply through LSAC to both American and Canadian institutions. All applicants have the option to participate in the survey, however, the 1L profile reflects only American institutions. No data or reports have been produced or made publicly available that reflect the Canadian 1L profile.

Law Societies

The Law Society of Ontario

Between 2018 and 2009, the Law Society of Ontario collected and published licensees’ self-reported social marker identification data based on a set of close-ended questions. Data was collected from licensees’ required annual reports. This data set out distributions of race, gender, Indigeneity, and other social markers alongside data such as age and area and context of practice (sole practitioners, in-house counsel, other employment, and clinics). Respondents could choose not to answer these questions.

The “Self-Identification” survey is now used to collect data on how members of the Law Society self-ientify. It asks participants to identify if they are francophone or anglophone, their racial identity, religion, or if they identify as an Indigenous person, amongst other questions. Similar to the LSAC and law school questionnaires, participants have the option to ‘not answer’ for each question in both surveys.

Data from the surveys is published in the ‘Statistical Snapshot of Lawyers in Ontario’ annual report. The most recent report was in 2023 and is linked here.

Comparing the 2023 Statistical Snapshot of Lawyers in Ontario against the most recent (2021) census data, it is clear that certain groups are underrepresented in the legal community. For instance, where Indigenous peoples make up almost 2.5% of the Ontario population, they only comprise of 1.4% of the legal community. Another significantly underrepresented group in Ontario’s legal community is the Filipino population, who make up 3.1% of Ontarians, but only 0.5% of the legal community. Other findings from the 2023 include:

• More than one-fifth of lawyers with disabilities work in government
• LGBT2Q lawyers are concentrated in Toronto and Ottawa
• Raciliased Ontarians (not including Indigenous persons) account for 28.7% of lawyers, compared to their representation of 33.98% of Ontarians
• Male lawyers are markedly older, but there has been a 22.3% increase in female lawyers in the same age category (55-64).

This data echoes an LSO-commissioned report titled “Working Together for Change: Strategies to Address Issues of Systemic Racism in the Legal Professions”. The report noted that “racialized licensees were more likely to go into sole practice as a result of barriers faced in other practice environments… Internationally trained lawyer and paralegals face additional barriers in the professions.”

The Law Society of Alberta

The Law Society of Alberta recognizes that there is systemic discrimination within the society and profession and commits to reducing barriers. In 2020, the Law Society of Alberta launched an initiative to have racialized lawyers, articling students, and others share their experiences regarding race and stereotyping; however, no formal survey regularly collects data surrounding the racial demographic of lawyers in Alberta.

The LSA website section, ‘Moving Forward’, highlights key initiatives and goals they hope to implement in the future. They note taking steps to address systemic discrimination by mandating that lawyers complete training on unconscious bias, equity, and Indigenous Cultural Competence. In 2022, the LSA mandated additional training to be tailored specifically to their workplace, which includes department-specific training to best help lawyers to address systemic discrimination within their area of practice.