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Understanding How Minoritized Female Legal Professionals Negotiate Extra-Corporate Commitments and Legal Practice

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Understanding How Minoritized Female Legal Professionals Negotiate Extra-Corporate Commitments and Legal Practice Understanding How Minoritized Female Legal Professionals Negotiate Extra-Corporate Commitments and Legal Practice by Janie Lin A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto ©Copyright by Janie Lin (2020) ii Understanding How Minoritized Female Legal Professionals Negotiate Extra- Corporate Commitments and Legal Practice Doctor of Philosophy (2020) Janie Lin Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto ABSTRACT This thesis examines the experiences of minoritized female legal professionals working in law and aims to explore how minoritization is reproduced in the legal profession. How lawyers, law clerks and legal assistants navigate legal practice as well as practices in social justice throughout their careers is revealed through professional and personal narrative. The study documents their struggle to “fit” in the profession filling in the everyday/everynight reality of working in law, and reveals there is negotiation at every stage of their careers. Methodologically, I have chosen an anti-racist theoretical analysis as well as Clarke and Smith's theories. Using institutional ethnography, I start with the broad question of what is the lived experience of minoritized women working in corporate law? I employed a mixed method design using interviews to examine the experiences of 12 minoritized female legal professionals, including myself, at various stages in their legal careers. I also analyze certain “texts” used and relied upon by the legal community to understand how they are informed by the ruling relations and how they in turn, inform governance and social relations. The study reveals there is systemic discrimination and disadvantage in the profession and the story of disadvantage for minoritized female legal professionals working in law is one of cumulative inequity and trauma. iii Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been finished without courage and stamina, and the enormous amount of intellectual and emotional support from others. I first thank God Almighty for giving me the courage to quit my job and finish writing. It has been an incredibly challenging but satisfying journey, and I am grateful to so many who have helped me stay the course. This work is only as good as the writer researcher but it has been made that much better by the support of so many along the way. First, a huge thank you to my advisor, Dr. Linda Muzzin, a wonderful mentor and passionate critical scholar, who has been a source of steady guidance for me through the years. I could not have reached the finish line without your support every step of the way. To my committee members, Professors Jamie Magnusson and John Portelli, thank you for your patience and unwavering support over the years. Your teaching and activism continue to inspire me to work for social change. My gratitude goes to Professors Peter Sawchuk and Sonia Lawrence for providing critical and stimulating comments on the thesis. And to the group of doctoral students who walked this journey with me, meeting on a Thursday evening every month through the years, thank you, thank you, thank you. You were my guiding light, keeping me grounded to the academic project with your enthusiasm for learning and dedication to critical scholarship. I have enjoyed the conversation, the laughter and most of all, the friendship. I would not have taken so many risks to learn what I have learned without the community of outstanding women legal professionals whom I have come to know, work with and respect. Your strength and commitment to social justice work kept me strong and forward looking. You gave me hope when I felt like giving up. With you, I believed it was not impossible to change the world, even if every step toward that was difficult, challenging and sometimes painful. Many thanks to the participants in this study who have so generously shared their insight and experiences of struggle. I am eternally grateful to you for allowing me to study a part of your professional and personal lives and put that under academic scrutiny. Without your participation and commitment to having the hard conversation, this study would not have been possible. Thank you to Professor Michael Bryce who sustained my spirit all these years with blessings and words of encouragement, often accompanied by good chocolate. Your gift of a trip together to see civil rights attorney (and first tenured African American woman professor at Harvard University Law School) Lani Guinier speak on a cold snowy day in 2004 in celebration of Martin Luther King Day was particularly special and will forever stay with me. A very special thanks to my parents who always encouraged my education. You are my constant champions. I thank you for every opportunity you took to create time for me to finish this thesis. Mum, you reorganized your work schedule to babysit so that I could leave the house and take evening courses at OISE. Dad, in your retirement, you graciously came in the morning to help with drop off and in the afternoon to help with pick up so that I could work a full day. Your continued love and support have sustained me through every life challenge – thank you. This study was inspired by three generations of women. My grandmother who never went to school but is one of the smartest people I know. My mother who is brave and fearless and is the hardest working woman I know. Mum, you believed I would finish this thesis and I was able to iv because you taught me the important lesson of getting up each time I fell. And my beautiful daughter, Cheryl, who represents all the hope and optimism I have in women working tirelessly to change the world. You are my world and I thank you for all the time you preoccupied yourself because Mom was again busy at the computer. I thank my son, Paul, for his patience through the years as Mom remained a student preoccupied with coursework and writing. I want you to know that your birth transformed my life and realigned all my priorities. You are the reason I believe in a better world. I dedicate this work to the person I love and cherish – my partner, Mike. You have been my rock in every leg of this journey. The challenges of these past years could not have been weathered without you by my side. You are my steady state, my biggest champion in life. I thank you for bringing me coffee every morning and reminding me to drink it while it’s hot. You may have questioned my decision to pursue doctoral studies, particularly at a time with a baby and a demanding career, but you never questioned my ambition. You believed in me while I believed in the project. For that, I thank you and love you for everything that you are. v Table of Contents Chapter 1 The Evolution of my Research Problematic, Research Methods and Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Starting with Lived Experience in Law............................................................................ 1 1.2 The Researcher – Locating Myself and the Problematic ................................................. 5 1.2.1 The “Undone Business” of Law—My Emerging Problematic ................................. 7 1.2.2 Lived Experience and Storytelling.......................................................................... 11 1.2.3 Encountering Racism Early On .............................................................................. 14 1.2.4 My Unique Perspective: Intersections of Race, Class and Gender ........................ 22 1.3 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................... 27 1.4 Thesis Organization........................................................................................................ 27 Chapter 2 Review of Relevant Literature ..................................................................................... 29 2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 29 2.1 Basic Terminology ......................................................................................................... 29 2.2 Organization of the Review............................................................................................ 31 2.3 Law Society of Ontario (LSO) Texts on “Diversity”, “Inclusion” and Racialization ... 32 2.4 Key Developments in Equity and Diversity: Studies and Reports by LSO and Others.36 2.5 Corporatization and Racialization .................................................................................. 45 2.5.1 Market, Audit and Surveillance .............................................................................. 49 2.5.2 Restructuring and Contingent Labour in Law ........................................................ 52 2.6 Precarity, Racism and Trauma in the Workplace ........................................................... 54 2.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 58 Chapter 3 Theorizing Race and Gender in Law ............................................................................ 60 3.0 Introduction
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