Advocacy Matters - Spring 2020

no lawyers and no one in Ontario. He had no
social or professional network whatsoever, and
consequently he had to work extremely hard to
develop himself personally and professionally.
able trial work in medical malpractice and professional
regulation prosecutions.
Shane was born and raised in Pakistan. He
came to Canada as a third-year international
undergraduate student.
Challenges: Shane’s struggles and challenges
in becoming a lawyer and achieving his current
success were significant. To begin with, he knew
Mentors & Mentoring: Shane credits his success
at McCarthy’s in his early days to his finding
an excellent mentor: Eric Block took an early
interest in Shane and mentored him. He continued
to mentor Shane over the years, and assisted
him in developing skills in the practice of law
including developing his professional network.
Shane told me, “imagine someone without
connections, amongst 27 other very qualified
students, some of whom knew people at the
firm already, and had professional or personal
connections in the legal industry. It feels
like you’re starting from behind. You really
need someone to say, ‘you belong here, you
fit in.’ This is what Eric and others at my firm
did for me.”
Shane observes: “Mentorship is arguably the
most important component to building a career
in law. Law school equips you with some important
but pretty basic tools. Mentors help you
apply those tools, and acquire and master new
tools, to solve complex problems. Mentors also
provide direct, timely and constructive criticism.
McCarthy’s has a culture of ongoing informal
and formal feedback, which was important to
me since I got to adjust real-time.”
The Common Thread
Law is a difficult career, to be sure, perhaps
as much due to the interpersonal and personal
pressures, including time management
and work-life balance, as the technical
challenges of practice. The common thread
which runs throughout the stories of interviewees
is that each lawyer has benefitted
from mentorship, and they all wish to “pay
it forward”. A culture of mentorship is, undoubtedly,
something this profession should
aim to achieve. In this way, whether mentor
or mentee, we will all benefit.
Small screen
BIG ADVOCACY
Class Actions Advocacy
Tuesday, June 9, 2020 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm ET | Webcast
Hear from top class action practitioners about trends and
strategies for bringing and defending a class action.
Topics Include:
• Lightning Round: The Year in Review
• The View From Here: A Primer on Class Actions in America
• Fireside Chat with a Class Actions Judge
• Access to Justice? Comparative Class Action Litigation
• Multi-jurisdictional Class Actions
Program Chairs:
Laura K. Fric, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Margaret L. Waddell, Waddell Phillips PC
You were born to advocate so don’t stop
honing your craft just because you can’t
be in the courtroom.
Register
For more information, including a full list
of faculty and accreditation information,
click here.
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