What is the BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program?

The BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program is a Black legal mentorship program affiliated with the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. The program facilitates student-lawyer mentorship by pairing Black law students with a Black legal professional who will be committed to mentoring them throughout the academic year. The goal of the program is to help Black law students develop a support system that will guide them and advise them throughout their legal career starting in law school.

BLSA is able to provide its members with legal mentorship through partnering with the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, the Black Female Lawyers Network, the County of Carleton Law Association, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni, and various other regional organizations and law firms.

Why is the BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program necessary?

In 2016, the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion stated the following in their report Diversity by the Numbers: The Legal Profession.

• Racialized Respondents are under-represented in the [legal] Profession when compared to the Canadian labour force.

• Racialized Respondents in the Profession are under-represented in Ontario when compared to provincial labour force data. 81.33% of Respondents are Caucasian and 13.90% are Racialized. This representation of Racialized persons is low in comparison to the Canadian labour force, where 18.01% identify as a Visible Minority.

• The majority of Racialized Respondents identify as Asian (8.04% of Respondents). Next is Mixed Race at 2.20%, Middle Eastern at 1.80%, Black at 0.89%, Latin/Hispanic at 0.60% and Israeli at 0.37%.

In an effort to decrease and ultimately stop these trends, BLSA strives to pair Black law students with Black lawyers to support them in navigating the legal profession.

The BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program is open to all Black law students and Black legal professionals, regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, class, ability, religion, age, nationality, or ethnicity.

How does the BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program work?

The Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program is student led and governed by a mentorship model. This model has three integrated components: Student-Lawyer Mentorship, Peer-to-Peer Mentorship, Professional Development & Networking events for participating mentees.

Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship

Black law students are matched with a Black lawyer, legal professional, or individual who holds a law degree but is not practicing as a traditional lawyer. Each BLSA legal mentor and BLSA mentee commits to meeting for two hours per month and abiding by their agreed upon mentorship guideline that outlines their objectives and expectations of one another.

The mentors and mentees for this program are matched based on the information each participant shares in their respective application form. As such, Black mentees are encouraged to request a legal mentor who practices in a similar area of law or comes from a similar background. For example, a student mentee may request to be matched with a Black legal mentor who is a woman working in health law.

What is expected of Legal Mentors?

Together, the BLSA legal mentor and BLSA mentee will decide how and where to spend their two hours a month. BLSA recommends that the legal mentor guide their mentee through issues such as law school course selection, the articling process, bar admission, career development, and developing a healthy work-life balance. 

BLSA’s Virtual Mentorship

In considering BLSA mentees who are interested in working across Ontario, Canada, North America, and internationally, we have created a Virtual Mentorship experience. In this program, BLSA mentees meet via Skype, email or phone with their legal mentor. 

How do interested Black Lawyers become BLSA Legal Mentors?

Any Black lawyer who has been called to the Bar and is in good standing can be a legal mentor. We kindly ask that lawyers interested in committing two hours per month to the BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program to please complete the online mentor application form. 

I am currently not practicing as a lawyer, can I still become a BLSA Legal Mentor?

Yes! Many Black law students want to explore the endless legal-related career opportunities that a law degree can offer.

If you are a Black lawyer who has been called to the Bar and you are not currently practicing law, but rather working in a related field — your insight is valuable to our Black law students.

If you are interested in committing two hours per month to the BLSA Student-Lawyer Legal Mentorship program, please complete the online mentor application form.