A New MOFO for a New Year

By: Ainsley Brown · January 12, 2009 · Filed Under Diversity in Law, Law Career · Add Comment

Middle Passage Law Series

Hahahahahahah…. I know what you are thinking, but no, not the expletive. “MOFO” is in fact short for the law firm of Morrison & Foerster.

I was wondering how best to kick off the New Year with the Middle Passage Law series and I thought it best to start with positive news.

A new MOFO for a New Year refers to Trevor James, a UK tax partner in Morrison & Foerster, who has been elevated to managing partner in the firm’s London office. And, oh yeah, Mr. James just happens to be black.

This is a first for an international law firm.

Please do not misread this post. It isn’t that UK law firms are light years ahead of their Canadian counterparts in terms of black diversity — for they are not, as the UK based Black Solicitors Network’s 2008 diversity league table makes clear. However, UK law firms and the legal establishment are ahead of their Canadian counterparts in two significant ways worthy of note.

The first of these is Mr. James’ appointment — earned on merit.

What is the probability of such an appointment at a Canadian national or international law firm in the near or medium term?

To be honest I just don’t see it happening, but I could be wrong — in fact I want to be wrong.

The second area to note is the fact that such a thing as a diversity league table exists.

It is not that Canadian law firms or the larger legal establishment does not measure diversity — for they do. However, on closer examination it will be observed that these measurements are largely confined to gender. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing and should be lauded; however, I believe that such measures should be expanded to other diversity communities.

Why the comfort with measuring gender and the fear — yes, I said fear, because that is the only way I can characterize it — with measuring race?

I really cannot answer this questions as it is far beyond my current knowledge and skills — I want to answer it and maybe one day I will.

I didn’t mean to harp on the negative but I just wanted to make you aware, that is if you were not already, of all too real an issue.

So back to the positive.

I wish Mr. James – A New MOFO For A New Year – all the best and I hope that his current and future successes will serve as a shining example of what is possible.

Post tags: Afro-Canadian, Ainsley Brown, black, diversity, law, middle passage law

First-Year Law Student Teaches Ethics to Chinese Delegation

By: Omar Ha-Redeye · February 12, 2008 · Filed Under Ethics, Law School · Add Comment

(reproduced with the author’s permission)

First-Year Law Student Teaches Ethics to Chinese Delegation

TORONTO – Omar Ha-Redeye, a law student at the University of Western Ontario, presented a seminar on ethical behaviour in disasters to a diplomatic delegation on Nov. 9, 2007.

The Chinese dignitaries were from China, and represented the Commission of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). They were in Canada for one week, on a trip to meet with specialists in disaster management and learn from best practices here.

Mr. Ha-Redeye worked internationally in disaster and emergency management prior to starting law at the University of Western Ontario in September 2007. He shared an ethical model he developed in the review of successes and failures of major environmental and unnatural disasters.

The topics covered included the SARS epidemic in Canada, relief to families of Sept. 11, 2001, and the 2004 Tsunami in South-East Asia.

“In the study of ethics, there is no one single right course of action,” said Mr. Ha-Redeye. “What we try to do is present different ethical approaches, and try to reconcile competing needs in an emergent situation.”

Mr. Ha-Redeye explained that in disasters and emergencies there is little time for extensive ethical analysis, requiring professionals to be at least be familiar with ethical theory. The model he presented could also be used in other fields, or in daily situations in life.

First-year law students study ethics in their Spring semester of law at the University of Western Ontario. Western students begin their first class of ethics on Feb. 13, 2008.

“Although I am familiar with ethical concepts, their application specifically to the field of law is something I look forward to,”said Ha-Redeye.

Discussion around ethical behaviour in the legal profession has increased in recent months following the release of a book by a former Dean of Western Law, Phillip Slayton, entitled Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession.

The training session was held at the Holiday Inn in downtown Toronto, and was hosted by the Foundation for International Training (FIT).

Below: Omar Ha-Redeye offers a session on ethics in disasters to a diplomatic delegation from China (Photo Credit: Omar Ha-Redeye)

Omar Ha-Redeye

Notes

Western Law was featured in the current issue of the CBA National magazine for the legal study of ethics. Western was the first law school to offer a mandatory ethics class in Ontario, and the first to have a mandatory course in the first year.

Ethics is usually more uniformly required in other jurisdictions.

Updates

The Law Society of Upper Canada is debating whether ethics should be a mandatory subject in Ontario.