www.blakes.com

Blake, Cassels & Graydon has a story to tell and here’s how it goes:

“One of our lawyers in our Calgary office recently emailed our managing partner to say, ‘You know, here’s some business we got. When we could show them we had a diversity business sheet as part of our normal marketing materials that was really important to them and they were very interested in learning about diversity. And that opened the door for us to do more business.’” 

The storyteller is Mary Jackson, chief officer of legal personnel and professional development at Blakes, one of Canada’s leading business law firms. She explains, “That was an example that resonated with people because it showed a specific example of how to use diversity and link it to business.”

Jackson is a big believer that people relate to stories, not statistics. Though she’s the first to admit that she thinks “diversity’s a hard issue because it involves people’s values.” And points to the firm’s diversity calendar as an example.

“You have to do your best to take in everyone’s views but sometimes you have to make hard choices,” she says. “You get people emailing me: ‘I really appreciate this because it helps other people understand me.’ So I do think it has opened things up. I think in the workplace it’s made things more positive.”

Blakes didn’t get named as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers—the only law firm to do so—for nothing. When it comes to diversity and equity, it strives to stand out from the rest with the bulletins it publishes, the seminars it holds and the initiatives it undertakes such as the Law in Action within Schools (LAWS) program that provides academic support and mentorship to inner city high school students.

With 22 to 25% of the partners at Blakes being women, the firm would have been remiss not to have something for them. Its Women’s Initiative which focuses on both the social and professional aspects of the business has been really good at “entrenching a female community,” Jackson says.

“I’ve always thought women’s lives are often more complicated because I always find women whether they’re straight or gay, whether they have kids or not…they have a lot of responsibilities on their plate. And so as a consequence it’s hard in some ways in women’s professional groups to have mentoring,” she explains. “The women’s initiative has brought together women of multi-generations. And you have a lot of women partners who have made it, who have said, ‘You can do this. Here’s how you do it.’”

Blakes is taking the initiative a step further and will be starting mentoring circles on work-life balance and business development.

The secret of success for these programs when the hours at a law firm can be pretty intense is structure (finding the time within a busy work week) and communication. As a result, the payoff has been terrific, awards aside.

“I think the start of these programs has helped recruit more diversity,” Jackson says. “And it has allowed people to talk about it who might not have talked about it.”