I love the imagery of “leaning forward” – a catch phrase with so much power behind it. I often use this imagery when I am working out at the gym learning new crossfit circuits but I also use it daily in my work life. The visual of leaning forward reinforces for me that I need to take risks and lean into or commit to a goal. Leadership is all about leaning forward and with the topic of women in leadership getting more and more deserved attention I thought I would highlight an inspiring article by Dr. Margie Warrell.

In a change that has been a long time coming, both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal have abandoned the antiquated practice of requiring members of the bar to address justices as “my lady”, “my lord”, “your ladyship” or “your lordship”. This harmonizes the courts with both the Federal court and the Supreme Court of Canada who abandoned these titles long ago.

It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada is a great honour and achievement for any litigator. It is also a fact, until recently universally ignored, that by and large this honour is bestowed on men. In 2020, only 28% of counsel appearing before the country’s highest court were women.

Kim Jakeman recently wrote about reverse learning in her blog post “How to become a better lawyer by learning from those you teach” (you can read it here). Inspired by that post, I surveyed junior associates and asked them for their insights into “what makes a good senior”.

I recently had the pleasure of joining the Women in Law Leadership Forum Panel. Sitting on the panel with me was Linda Chanow, co-author of the study entitled “In Their Own Words – Experienced Women Lawyers Explain Why They Are Leaving Their Law Firms and Their Profession”. You may also want to check out the previous report “Walking Out the Door”. I owe a debt of gratitude to Linda and her co-author Joyce Sterling for researching and publishing on this subject so near and dear to me and Life in Law.