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Turning Points and Transit ions : Women's Careers in the Legal Profession A Longitudinal Survey of Ontario Lawyers 1990 - 2002 ❖ ❖❖ A Report to The Law Society of Upper Canada September 2004 ❖ ❖❖ F. M. Kay C. Masuch P. Curry Acknowledgements We wish to thank the members of the Equity Advisory Group, the Equity and Aboriginal Issues Committee, and the Bicentennial Report Working Group at the Law Society of Upper Canada for their support and encouragement of this project. The Chair of the Equity Advisory Group is Senka Dukovich. Members of the committee are Mojisola Akpata, Raj Anand, Ritu Bhasin, Soma Choudhury, Michelle Farrell, Nikki Gershbain, Phyllis Gordon, Justice Thea Herman, Mile Komlen, Sudabeh Mashkuri, Dora Nipp, Sonia Ouellet, Effie Prattas, Daniel Russell, David Smagata (Vice-Chair), and Gary Yee. In 2002, members of that group also included Brian Beauchamp, Abby Bushby, Denise Dwyer, Doug Elliot, Ian MacKenzie, Andrew Pinto (Chair in 2002), and Susan Switch. The Equity and Aboriginal Issues Committee was led from 2002 until June 2003 by Paul Copeland (Chair), Derry Millar (Vice-Chair), and Helene Puccini (Vice-Chair). The members were Stephen Bindman, Leonard A. Braithwaite, Thomas Carey, Gary Gottlieb, Robert Lalonde, Barbara Laskin, Janet Minor, Judith Potter, and Heather Ross. As of June 2003, the committee was led by Joanne St. Lewis (Chair) and Derry Millar (Vice-Chair). Members included Marion Boyd, Mary Louise Dickson, Sy Eber, Thomas Heintzman, Ronald Manes, Tracey O'Donnell, and William Simpson. The third and final committee to contribute to the project was the Bicentennial Report Working Group, led by Joanne St. Lewis (Chair). Members included Beth Symes, Andrea Alexander, Thomas Heintzman, Derry Millar, and Constance Backhouse. Members of these three committees and several staff members at the Law Society of Upper Canada met on numerous occasions to discuss the proposed project, survey design and questionnaire content, and review preliminary findings of the report. On each occasion these individuals offered tremendous constructive feedback and invaluable direction in the production of this report. We wish to acknowledge the important contributions of the Equity Advisory Group, the Equity and Aboriginal Issues Committee, and the Bicentennial Report Working Group. We also wish to acknowledge our appreciation of the dedicated efforts of several staff members at the Law Society who made this project possible. Charles Smith, Equity Advisor, Equity Initiatives Department, initiated the project in the autumn of 2001 and encouraged the prospect of a longitudinal study to explore gender dynamics in the legal profession, as well as a separate survey of contemporary lawyers with a focus on ethnic/racial diversity and career diversification. Josee Bouchard of the Equity Initiatives Department took the helm in 2002 in her role as Education and Training Coordinator, then as Acting Equity Advsior, and more recently as Equity Advisor. Josee Bouchard coordinated several aspects of the project, including Acknowledgements staffing, finances, and communications. Her diligent efforts kept the project on schedule, fostered continuity and invaluable exchanges among various committees, and ensured optimum input to the design of this study. At the Equity Initiatives Department, administrators Geneva Yee, Giang Nguyen, and Anne D'Souza facilitated the survey mailing and data collection. Geneva Yee undertook the painstaking task of updating the mailing addresses for participants in the study, while Giang Nguyen was primarily responsible for the production and mailing of the survey. Harry Gibson, Accounts Manager at Pitney Bowes, managed with professionalism and timely production, the formatting and printing of the questionnaire, letters, and postcards. Bruce Hobson, Programmer Analyst, Information Systems at the Law Society of Upper Canada, performed heroic technical feats in linking the three sets of data across time using an elaborate program of identification codes and sampling frames. This project could not have been possible without the funding contributed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and the Law Foundation of Ontario. All three organizations contributed significantly to the financial support of this research study. The academic research team, examining structural changes and career mobility in the Ontario legal profession, included Dr. Fiona Kay, Department of Sociology, Queen's University, Antonella Bader, Nicholas Bader, Georgina Blanchard, Ryan Causton, Julie Coulthard, Paula Curry, Julie Gobbo, Karen Hindle, and Cristi Masuch. Antonella Bader, Nicholas Bader and Ryan Causton assisted with the questionnaire design. Ryan Causton, Julie Coulthard, Julie Gobbo, and Karen Hindle undertook the task of data entry. Ryan Causton and Julie Gobbo performed the challenge of linking the questionnaires across the 1990, 1996, and 2002 waves of social surveys. They also ensured the qualitative comments yielded through the survey were transcribed for the purposes of analyses. Their efforts made the longitudinal data analysis of career dynamics possible. Cristi Masuch and Paula Curry completed data entry, preliminary thematic analyses of the qualitative data, and descriptive statistical analyses. Cristi Masuch and Paula Curry are the co-authors of the report, having undertaken the bulk of statistical and qualitative analyses. We thank Ellie Barton, our editor, for her careful attention to detail. We also thank Nicholas Bader for formatting assistance and Jessica Rubin for final proofreading. Our gratitude also goes to several scholars who provided expert feedback on the questionnaire development and whose prior research into equity and career issues contributed to the quality of the questionnaire and survey design. These scholars included Dr. Stephen Baron, Department of Sociology, Queen's University; Professor Joan Brockman, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University; and Dr. Jean Wallace, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary. Finally, we wish to express our greatest appreciation to the participants of this study, who have continued to tell us about their work and family histories in each of the surveys mailed to them (1996 and 2002) since we first contacted them in 1990. Their efforts to explain often complex biographies of job transitions and family circumstances are greatly appreciated. We wish also to thank those who have left the practice of law for continuing to participate in the Acknowledgements study, informing us of the reasons for their departures and the diversity of careers they have found outside the practice of law. Many lawyers in this study offered thoughtful comments at the end of the questionnaire, some even including letters describing meaningful transitions and important turning points in their careers. The title of this report reflects their insights and views as members of the legal profession, past and present, now 12 to 27 years since their Call to the Ontario Bar. September 2004 Fiona M. Kay, PhD Associate Professor, Sociology Cristi Masuch Research Associate Paula Curry Research Associate Department of Sociology Queen's University at Kingston Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................ i List of Figures............................................................................................................. iii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................. iv Section 1. introduction ............................................................................1 The Research Agenda ..............................................................................................1 A Brief History of Research on Women and the Legal Profession in Ontario........2 The 1989 Women in the Legal Profession Report .............................................2 The 1991 Transitions in the Ontario Legal Profession Report .........................2 Conclusions of the 1991 Transitions Study.......................................................3 Policy Initiatives 1991 to 1996 ..........................................................................5 The 1996 Barriers and Opportunities Within Law Report ................................5 Main Findings of the 1996 Report .....................................................................7 Policy Initiatives 1996 to 2004 ........................................................................10 The 2004 Turning Points and Transitions Report .................................................11 Research Methodology ....................................................................................11 Strategic and Policy Issues to be Addressed....................................................12 Research Objectives and Questions.................................................................12 Sampling Frame .....................................................................................................13 Stratum I: Tribunals, Commissions, Agencies, and Boards ............................13 Stratum II: Temporary Absences from Law Practice ......................................14 Stratum III: General Membership...................................................................14 Stratum IV: Departures from Law Practice .....................................................14 Rationale for the Sampling

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