The head of Ontario’s law society says she is “deeply troubled” by the level of sexual harassment, violence and discrimination within the profession.
Jacqueline Horvat said many colleagues reached out to her “expressing their concerns” in the wake of an investigation by the Toronto Star and the Investigative Journalism Bureau, which shone a light on how entrenched power imbalances in law have given rise to a culture of sexual impropriety that protects alleged wrongdoers from accountability.
“Ending the silence and stigma that allows harassment and discrimination to continue is the first step to make legal workplaces free of harassment and discrimination,” Horvat, a Toronto lawyer and treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario, said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The IJB and Star had sought comment from Horvat. She declined to speak with reporters at the time, but with her public condemnation, Horvat has joined a chorus of prominent lawyers publicly calling out the dark underside of an industry defined by a professional code of integrity, good character and public trust.
Ontario’s law society has received hundreds of anonymous complaints by legal professionals about their colleagues alleging discrimination and harassment.
Meanwhile, women are leaving law firms — and the profession altogether — at a troubling rate, the February article found. Many cite “discrimination” and “harassment” as reasons.
‘To hell with this’
Many women lawyers say a culture of sexual impropriety in the profession is contributing to this exodus.
“So many high-profile, talented, rainmaking, profession-leading women are saying, ‘To hell with this,’” says Erin Durant, founder of Ottawa law firm, Durant Barristers.
Few consider going public with complaints of sexual harassment or abuse to law societies, the courts or the police. Formal complaints are considered professional suicide that can undermine a promising career, say several senior women lawyers interviewed for this investigation.
Jasmine Kaur says she endured one male boss who had “no boundaries.” He would constantly ask her about her personal life and often rub against her as he passed by, she alleges.
Like many women lawyers who face sexual impropriety and harassment at work, Kaur never reported her boss.
“I didn’t feel like there was anyone I could go to — including the Law Society,” says Kaur. “Other women in the legal field had told me that claims of sexual harassment are just scoffed at.”
Just three years after she got her licence to practice law, Kaur changed careers. The sexual harassment she experienced was a factor in her decision, she says.
Laura Metcalfe, co-chair of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s women’s committee, says her 1,800-member organization — which advises all levels of government on criminal justice issues — is “keenly aware of barriers women face in practising law, including issues around discrimination and harassment.”
While conditions for women in law have improved over the past decade, she says, “our anecdotal experience confirms that there is still a pervasive problem in the legal community. The women we assist are always concerned about the severe professional consequences that may follow.”
Most sexual harassment goes unreported
Along with the roughly 600 anonymous complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination made to the Ontario law society about lawyers by their colleagues, the Star/IJB found 66 cases since 2000 that feature allegations of sexual misconduct made against lawyers by their colleagues. While the names of most complainants are redacted from the public records, the Star/IJB were able to identify outcomes for 32 complainants. Of those, 23 left their jobs and three were fired for unknown reasons after the alleged sexual impropriety.
Despite one in three female lawyers reporting sexual harassment at work, 75 per cent of incidents go unreported, according to a 2019 International Bar Association (IBA) survey of nearly 7,000 respondents from 135 countries.
Most women lawyers rely on a “whisper network” to navigate which firms have problems, says Ottawa lawyer Durant. “Over time you learn who to avoid, which firms are better for women, who might sexually harass you, who might just be outright discriminatory,” she says.
Yola Ventresca, a managing partner at Lerners in London, Ont., says she has endured numerous instances of sexual impropriety since becoming a lawyer in 2007.
But she never reported it.
She says the “silencing” of women in the profession stems from a belief that nothing will happen if they come forward.
“There isn’t really one woman that you could talk to, if you asked them directly about their experience with sexual harassment in the law, that doesn’t have a story,” she says. “Not one.”
In her statement, the Law Society’s Horvat urged lawyers with stories of sexual impropriety to come forward.
“Although it can be painful and risky for victims to share their experiences of harassment, violence or discrimination, conversations and increased awareness about their experiences are critically important,” Horvat wrote.
“I am hopeful that these conversations will launch a collaborative response from all leaders in the legal community as well as employers of lawyers, paralegals and licensing candidates throughout the province.”
