Lawyers of Colour and Racialized Immigrants with Foreign Legal Degrees: An Examination of the Institutionalized Processes of Social Nullification

Abstract

This analysis will deconstruct the legal profession as a cultural force that justifies the discounting of credentials and accreditation blockage imposed on lawyers of colour as a market contingency, rather than a political action. Through this deconstruction, the study will demonstrate how the practice of Law in Canada valorizes diversity at the same time that it actively suppresses it, by providing racialized lawyers equal access to the profession but not access as equals. The key public policy hypothesis of this work is that in a globalized society that strives to be as inclusive as possible, it is vital that a profession like the Law begin to make sense of its own diversity challenge beyond its narrow status as a labour market issue.