Black in Bay Street Hadiya Roderiques three ways to retain different talents In the TD Bank Tower, there was a bike attached to a luggage rack that could have accommodated at least 50 people. In the lobby, each elevator bench was empty and waiting for passengers. At First Canadian Place, there was a subdued library atmosphere as I walked through the huge lonely marble corridors, sometimes with no other person in sight. The Starbucks at street level was closed and was gone forever. Some retail stores had closed, while others, like Harry Rosen, were whitewashed with a note in the window that simply said, “In the fall!” Companies are enthusiastic about blacks when they seem to be adapting. I can tell when they have shine in their eyes when they see me as one of them, but with the bonus of brown skin. Sometimes it can feel like that`s all they see. An acquaintance who recently left law for science is frank about excitement. “They were thrilled to have me. I was the black white man, the lawyer of the firm with a slightly different skin, who could be pointed out as an example of diversity. Like him, I was the acceptable negro. I should be visible and yet invisible. I had to make them believe that I was a black girl with whom they could spend two hours in a car on their way to a hearing in Barrie, Ontario, listening to Bob Dylan and humming, and talking about the summer holidays when I wanted to sing with Nina Simone and talk about inequality.

Lama: Same thing here. I always take my four weeks. I just spent two weeks in Greece. And I don`t work on vacation, except maybe checking my emails five minutes a day. I will not pay money to work remotely in Greece. It`s just not something I`m going to do. One Friday morning in July, I took a trip to King and Bay. I hadn`t been to the area since the pandemic began, but I had heard lawyers who went to the office say it was worth seeing Bay Street in its strangely empty state. I took the tram for the first time in over a year. (And I had a great laugh when I realized I had added $100 to my PRESTO card in February 2020, money I probably should have invested in Zoom instead.) To be fair, a Friday morning in the summer was always quiet downtown, with many people on vacation or driving a little late to work. But it was different.

It was incredibly empty. Cassandra: I don`t really divide my day into “work” and “no work” because I always have my BlackBerry with me. When I`m in a movie and a customer sends me an email and says, “I need you to make a call,” I go out and dial a number. [Editor`s note: All seven employees use phones provided by their company (and they must choose: BlackBerry or iPhone). Most companies only pay for data, but McCarthys pays for the entire shebang, including roaming charges for lawyers on vacation.] Katie: It`s also important to make time for the holidays – both to relax and to spend time with family or friends. Later, I discovered that the partner had wandered the halls, scolded and lamented my lack of commitment when I didn`t respond immediately. When I returned on Monday, I had a meeting with him and my junior mentor about my involvement. I sat there, confused, as he stared at me and lectured me about responsibility and my career. “You have to decide whether you want to be an ultimate professional player or a lawyer,” he warned fervently.

I was wondering if a lawyer with a sick child or a lawyer with connection problems on vacation had ever received a similar ultimatum. When I got up to leave, I turned to him and asked, “What did the memo look like?” My father and these experiences taught me to fit in, not just with children, but everywhere. I learned to make people feel that I am like them or that I could be one of them. I embraced the importance of upper-middle-class interests and aspirations, such as ultimate frisbee, yoga, and a cappella. I knew I had to talk about Glenfiddich and the cottages, not the roti and park grills; To mention my father`s engineering degree, not his profession. I knew what I had to talk about to get the job. Nooreen: I think that`s correct. Before I started at Torys, my friends always said, “Oh, you`re going to Bay Street. You work until three or four o`clock in the morning.

And that just doesn`t happen. I managed to fit into places, mostly white spaces. I locked myself up just enough to make others feel comfortable. I did this when I was in elementary school and grew up in the heart of Mississauga as the only Black child in my extended class. I struggled with that in high school, one of about 20 black students, the only one in my year in the dance program at my performing arts high school; and again, as the only Black student in my 40-person psychology honours program at McGill; as the only black Ultimate Frisbee player in my city, not to mention my team; and as one of five black law students in my class of 190. Lama Sabbagh, McCarthy`s Year of Call: 2013 Practice Area: Company Average Weekly Hours of Work: 50 Hometown: Windsor, Ont. Faculty of Law: University of Windsor Faculty of Law extracurricular activities: Vice President of Finance at the Students` Law Society, project manager at a pro bono clinic, worked as a teaching assistant and as part of a national education campaign to provide charter advice to her pre-legal self: The same advice I would give myself today – don`t take too much llama: A partner once told me that as a lawyer, you should always have a knot in your gut.