Black History Month: Diversity and Inclusion in Legal Tech
Every February, we celebrate Black History Month (external link) across Canada. While this month aims to recognize the daily contributions being made by Black people in our community, it’s also an important time to reflect on diversity and inclusion. While conversations and reflection have taken place in many of our communities and especially in the workplace, there’s still a long way to go in improving our efforts to create an inclusive and diverse society— and the legal tech space is no exception.
We spoke with Julianne Trotman (external link) , Growth Marketing Lead at LIZ startup, Vaultie (external link) , to hear her experiences and perspectives as a Black woman in the legal tech industry. Growing up in the Caribbean, Julianne migrated to Canada after university to pursue an MBA. Before her role at Vaultie, she worked as a Senior Growth Marketer for the Black Professionals in Tech Network.
During her time in the tech and legal tech industries, Julianne says she has slowly seen changes brought in to diversify and broaden the workforces.
“At a glance, the tech and legal tech industries have long been homogenous, in both gender and race,” she says. “In recent years it has gotten better, as companies have become more intentional with their hiring processes. Although I do feel like it sometimes is two steps forward, one step back.”
In terms of the legal tech industry, diversification is consistent to that of the legal sector. In 2020, the Law Society of Ontario (external link) reported that only 3.2 per cent of the province’s lawyers were Black (external link) . These statistics are no surprise to Julianne, who says barriers to entry for young Black people often start early.
“Many Black people face barriers like access to schooling, a fair base and facilities to pay for education,” she says. “Legal tech seems to mirror what comes out of law school, so we need to start looking at how we can improve diversity and inclusion from the beginning.”
Despite this, Julianne notes there are many companies who are making steps in the right direction to help diversify the workforce but says there needs to be intentional effort from management to create an environment that fosters diversity and inclusion.
“There are many organizations that have done or are doing the work to make changes, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” she says. “It’s great that more conversations and action are happening in the workplace, but there needs to be intention and you need buy-in from the top. We need to look at whether things are actually changing systemically within organizations.”
For budding Black entrepreneurs or those looking to enter the legal tech industry, Julianne says building your network is vital to success.
“Your network is probably the most important thing and it’s important to diversify and broaden the people within it,” she says. “A majority of the jobs out there aren’t being posted online, so from a hiring perspective, diversifying your network and building your community and allies will ensure you don’t miss out on opportunities.”
Julianne adds that self-confidence and being comfortable with who you are is just as important.
“There has long been a mentality among a lot of Black people that we need to work twice as hard as our white colleagues in order to advance in our careers,” she says. “We recognize that our success shouldn’t have anything to do with our race, if you have the skillset, that is enough. You don’t need to fit into a stereotype of what you think someone in your field should look like.”
It's clear there is still much we can do to ensure the legal tech industry can keep working to improve inclusivity and diversity within the sector. Continuing to be intentional in our efforts will allow everyone a chance at success. It’s important that we recognize the daily contributions made by Black people in our community all year-round, and we must keep the conversation going and do the hard work to build a more diverse and inclusive community.