Data-Rich {LAB} Report

There’s plenty of rich data on new lawyers in Canada to be found final report from Law and Beyond (“LAB”), a study of Canadian lawyers called to the bar in 2010. The key findings of the study, released last week by Ronit Dinovitzer, provide a glimpse into the kinds of information researchers gleaned about this cohort; for example:

• Twenty-two percent (22%) of the LAB sample are non-white, 56% are women, and 16.4% are immigrants.
• Women remain more likely than men to work in the public sector, even in their early careers, with more than one quarter of women working in the public sector, compared to about 20% of men.
• Across all settings, women working full time are earning 93% of men’s salaries. Women report median earnings of $75,000, compared to $80,500 for men.
• Respondents from racialized communities are more likely to be working in the public sector (29.9% vs. 21.7%), whereas white respondents are more heavily concentrated in private firms (70.1% vs. 58%).
• Respondents working full time work on average 53 hours per week, slightly higher than their US counterparts, who reported an average work week of 49 hours.
• Respondents report an average of 45 hours of pro bono work over the past year.

But don’t get caught in thinking all the “good stuff” is in the key findings. The full report contains fascinating data on parental backgrounds, religious affiliations, articling and transitioning to practice, income, law school and related debt, career satisfaction, mobility and more.

Dinovitzer is also involved in the ongoing American Bar Foundation’s After the JD study, which is taking a longitudinal view of the careers of some 5000 American lawyers who graduated law school in 2002. The LAB report references some of those findings as well.

The LAB report is a must-read for leaders of bar associations, law societies and law schools and needs to be carefully considered by diversity and equality committees, law firm managers and anyone interested in issues related to the future of the legal profession and access to justice in Canada.

I’ve no doubt I’ll be referencing this report for many years.