When Toronto employment lawyer Ryan Watkins was in law school, he was one of only two Black students in his classes.

For him, that created a certain kind of pressure.

“There was no diversity at all in my section and it certainly made it difficult in the sense that you always knew in the room that there weren’t many of you, so you almost always had to be (at) your best,” Watkins said. “It almost took on a different weight that we were holding up Black society in general, and we had to show and prove that we belonged and that we could do it.”

Watkins added that these inequities continue during the process of applying to law school, through which schools will look for exceptional grades and a successful LSAT score.

“I think for some, certainly those who come from rich backgrounds and have a lot of money, they can pay for tutors to kind of teach them how to ace the LSAT test, whereas a lot of minorities and underprivileged Black students don’t have that available to them,” he said. “Prep courses can be very expensive.”

Watkins said he thinks the process through which students are accepted into law school should be looked at through a lens of diversity, rather than solely through grades and test scores.

“Looking at an applicant’s diverse background, what extracurriculars they have done, what type of law they want to practice, if they are going to give back to the community, what their background is, if they are going to be the first kid to go to university, if they are going to be the first lawyer in the family – things like that, which can set students on a path to financial prosperity for potentially generations – I think is important,” Watkins said. “We need to really redefine the way we look at what would make a successful lawyer.”

Ruth Goba, executive director of the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) in Toronto, said when she talks to Black students about law school, she often hears them speak from a perspective of “surviving” it.

“It’s a very different perspective than others who attended and loved it and met lots of friends,” she said.