Futures in Justice workshop helps TMU students explore legal career paths

A career in law may feel out of reach for racialized female students, but a recent Futures in Justice workshop by the Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) gave a group from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) the opportunity to learn more about possibilities in the field of law.

Futures in Justice (external link, opens in new window)  (previously named Braiding Diversity into Justice) is an OJEN career modelling program to help young women facing systemic barriers to “see themselves in law” by introducing them to legal professionals with whom they may share similar backgrounds or experiences. In the past, OJEN has held this workshop for high school students. In January 2025, TMU was the first university to hold the program for undergraduate students thanks to Assistant Professor Patricia Hania (Law and Business, Ted Rogers School of Management) who helped spearhead the initiative. 

Workshop origins

Futures in Justice was created by Honourable Justice Catrina Braid. Hania had heard about the program and reached out to Justice Braid because several of her Law and Business students would ask her questions about becoming a lawyer or what other careers there are in law. 

“Many of these students don’t have a background or a network in law, so they may be intimidated. So, in speaking to Justice Braid, I said I really wanted to bring this program to TMU and direct it towards racialized young women across all of TMU," Hania explains. 

“Because of the number of students that have been coming to me, and the concerns they have about barriers, not only emotional barriers, but financial – they have these preconceived ideas that it's going to be too expensive, that it's going to take too long and that they won't be able to do it – I really wanted to give them the supports that they need,” she adds.

Justice Braid introduced Hania to Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Rhinelander and Amelia Berot-Burns of OJEN, and the three met last spring to start developing a program for TMU students. Later, in the summer, a planning team of legal professionals was formed to organize the event.

Valuable learnings

Forty racialized female students from across TMU attended the full-day workshop (external link, opens in new window) , which took place on January 30, 2025 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto.

Students attended a panel on “Traditional Career Paths in Law,” which featured lawyers from different law firms, an Ontario Court judge and a counsel from the Crown Law Office, and a panel on “Alternative Career Paths in Law,” which included paralegals, the Executive Director and General Counsel at the Women’s Legal and Education Action Fund (LEAF), a Justice of the Peace and a litigator. Students also took part in speed-mentoring where judges and women from other legal professions moved around to talk to students about their roles.

Hania says that it is important for students to see that pursuing a career in law doesn’t just mean that you need to be a lawyer or a judge. “For example, one of the judges had been an academic for 12 years prior to being appointed. And there was a lawyer there who heads up the Indigenous section in one of the major law firms,” she points out. “So there were really interesting stories of how these women navigated their careers. Where they started and where they are now is very different.” 

In addition, students heard a keynote speech from Supreme Court Justice Michelle O'Bonsawin, Canada’s first Indigenous judge at the highest court, and attended a presentation by TMU’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law about the requirements to apply to law school. They also had the opportunity to do a tour of the Courthouse and visit different law firms nearby.

First-year Law and Business student Surin Baghbani Nokarani was one of the students who took part in the Futures in Justice workshop. “Overall, the event was eye-opening and broadened my perspective on the many opportunities available in law,” she says.

“I especially appreciated hearing from professionals who shared their career journeys and provided insight into the day-to-day realities of their work. It was fascinating to learn about the different sectors of law, and it gave me a clearer sense of the roles I could potentially pursue in the future," says Baghbani Nokarani.

“I really appreciated being surrounded by women in the field because it created such a welcoming and empowering environment,” she adds. “The event also highlighted the importance of mentorship and networking within the legal field, something I’m eager to embrace as I continue my studies.”

Marcassia Steele, a third-year Law and Business student, also attended the event. She said she was interested in taking part in it because she had a lot of questions about pursuing a career in law and liked the fact that it would be intimate – women-only with a smaller number of people. 

“The OJEN program made me feel the closest to being a legal professional due to its location, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the unique proximity to many exclusive names and legal professionals,” she explains. “It served as an eye-opener for legal careers, whether it be the ups and downs while practicing law, the indirect paths of becoming a lawyer or legal professional, and the experience of being in court.”   

Importance and timeliness of initiative 

“What's notable about this initiative is that TMU is the first university to do it,” explains Hania. “This is really important, especially considering that we're graduating individuals who are going on to careers. So we're in a perfect position to help these students.”

“A core value for me is women, leadership and empowerment,” she points out. “So it just is that extension of trying to offer students at TMU an opportunity to think about career planning and to think of it in the law.”

Hania adds that TMU’s Futures in Justice workshop is a timely event because we’ve recently been hearing about the pushback or pausing of DEI initiatives in the law community. “There's a responsibility in the legal profession to promote equity,” she says. “This workshop comes from the spirit of being at a university where we hold diversity and inclusion as being important, and it is one of the reasons I'm at TMU and the Ted Rogers School of Management.”