Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

In 2008, Blakes founded a network group for women legal professionals at the firm. "Women at Blakes" provides networking and mentorship opportunities, work-life balance resources and career development support to women employees and summer students.

Blakes is also developing special business leadership training programs for women lawyers and senior associates in collaboration with the University of Toronto's Joseph L. Rotman School of Management and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law.

The law firm also works in partnership with a number of post-secondary programs, such as the Women in Law Club at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. As part of this program, law students had the opportunity to meet with women employees at Blakes to talk about the issues women face in the legal profession -- the first session was so popular with students that Blakes has agreed to return for additional sessions during the school year.

The firm's longstanding Equity and Diversity Committee hosts a number of seminars throughout the year to ensure that employees continue to advance diversity issues within the firm. The committee has invited other companies to share information on their diversity projects and initiatives, including asking a South African law firm to speak about their diversity initiatives in post-apartheid South Africa. A New York-based law firm also delivered a presentation on its educational and support programs for students in an ethnically-diverse, inner-city neighbourhood.

The committee also publishes a newsletter focusing on equity and diversity topics in the legal profession. The newsletter includes articles on the firm's achievements in promoting diversity in the workplace throughout Blakes, and invites contributions from law students, associates and partners at the firm.