Moderator: Kim Jakeman, co-founder, LiL & Partner, Harper Grey Panelists: Alexandra Mitretodis, Associate, Fasken Pamela Meneguzzi, Senior Counsel, Government of Canada Rose Keith, QC, Advisor, LiL & Associate Counsel, Harper Grey Dionne Liu, Associate, Harper Grey   Kim:  Good morning everyone. I’m so excited to be monitoring our third Life in Law panel discussion! We’ve brought together both senior and junior female lawyers today to explore whether there is a prevalence of unconscious bias by women against women in our profession and if so, what steps we can take to do better. So on that note – welcome!   Alexandra:  Thank you for including me Kim!   Dionne:  Yes, thank you Kim, I’m proud to be here with a few of my Harper Grey colleagues (and some new faces!), and to have the opportunity to take part in this initiative….

Today we are joining people around the world in celebrating International Women’s Day! A significant day that recognizes the need for gender equality, celebrates women’s achievements and focuses on the steps that must continue in order to achieve gender parity.

Dear Seeking Sisterhood: You are not alone in finding it difficult to build mutually beneficial business relationships with women and establishing a strong and successful female network. The reality is that we all have incredible time pressures on us with work, family, friends and often caregiving responsibilities of either aging parents or our own children. We also all develop friendships and relationships outside of our work life and those relationships take care and feeding. Our example of networking business relationships is often what we have seen our male colleagues do and much of that may just not fit within your interests or within the time that you have available for networking. The end result is that women can feel that it is difficult or impossible to build a strong network of business connections. In reality; however, women have a myriad…

My how time flies when you’re having fun! On March 4, 2020 we proudly launched Life in Law and one wildcard of a year later, we are still going strong. Well first off – happy birthday to us (pass the Champagne!) – but secondly, we want to take a moment to acknowledge everyone who has helped bring this amazing initiative to life. Life in Law is not just one person or law firm, but a whole community of people that cares about keeping women in law, cares about starting tough conversations, and wants to share their career journeys and life experiences to truly help their fellow lawyers by getting candid with lessons they’ve learned along the way. And that community is growing every day. So if you have ever liked one of our posts, followed us on social media, commented…

Risky Business – The Hidden Obstacles of Getting Help When Kim Jakeman invited me to guest blog for LiL I had been talking with friends about some of the challenges we face getting the help we need. I hope that by sharing my own experiences with first acknowledging my need for help, and then daring to ask for it, might help others to reach the support that is often close at hand. I am a mother, former lawyer, and psychotherapist. One of the side-effects of training as a psychotherapist is the mistaken (or wishful) thinking that somehow, we therapists should have transcended our own psychological challenges, and are now magically free to practice what we preach. I was reminded of this recently as I was preparing a webinar designed to encourage lawyers to seek help and support. An important part…