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FACL BC invites all members of the legal community, from law students to senior members of the bar and judiciary, to the premiere launch of our mini-documentary, “But I Look Like a Lawyer.”
This documentary will share stories of the discrimination, stereotyping and bias experienced by members of the Pan-Asian legal community. It aims to increase intercultural awareness and competency, and to surface the complexity of the history, socio-economic and colonial aspects of these real lived experiences.
FACL BC wishes to highlight and bring renewed attention to the original But I Was Wearing a Suit documentary (and its Part II), spearheaded by a group of leaders in the Indigenous legal community, including Justice Ardith (Walpetko We’dalx) Walkem, who has generously provided guidance for our initiative.
The launch event will premiere online, via Zoom, with concurrent live streams to Facebook and Youtube.
BC law students are welcome to attend the following in person livestreaming locations:
- Allard School of Law - Franklin Lew Forum (Room 101)
- Thompson Rivers University, Faculty of Law - OM 3741
- University of Victoria, Faculty of Law - FRA 265, RSVP required: Contact commcapi@uvic.ca
Following the documentary showcase, we will host a virtual fireside chat with leaders in the Pan-Asian legal community.
Speaker Biographies
Opening Remarks
- Hasan Alam is the President (2021-2022) of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers BC (FACL BC). He has been a Director on the FACL BC board since 2017 and has previously served as the Chair of the advocacy committee and as the Vice President of External Affairs. Hasan is a Staff Lawyer at the B.C. General Employees' Union (BCGEU), where he practises in the areas of labour, human rights, and employment law. He is also a supervising lawyer at the Archway Community Services Legal Advocacy Program, a legal clinic that assists individuals and families with low income levels. In February of 2016, he helped to create the Islamophobia Legal Assistance Hotline in partnership with a number of other legal organizations. The hotline provides free and confidential legal services to residents of British Columbia that have been impacted by Islamophobia.
Hasan is a Vice-President of the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers (CALL) and an executive board member of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA).
- Dean Lawton, QC is the President of the Law Society of British Columbia. First elected a Bencher for 2014, Dean is currently Chair of the Executive Committee and the Anti-Money Laundering Working Group, Co-Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Advisory Committee, and a member of the Litigation Subcommittee. Dean believes passionately in the importance and protection of the rule of law; the role it plays in our society and in providing those with a grievance the opportunity to be heard. He is an active leader in the B.C. legal community, and is a past-president of the Victoria Bar Association.
Fireside Chat
- Jennifer Chow, QC is Senior Counsel at the federal Department of Justice, focusing on constitutional, administrative, Indigenous and commercial litigation. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2016. First elected a Bencher for 2018, Jennifer is Chair of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and a member of the Access to Justice Advisory Committee. She also sat on hearing panels before becoming a Bencher. Jennifer served on the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch’s Executive Committee for six years, and was the first visible minority president of the BC Branch.
- Baljinder Kaur Girn is senior Crown counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), BC Regional Office. She received her law degree from Queen’s University and is called to the bars of Ontario (1999) and British Columbia (2002). For the past twenty years, she has litigated a broad range of increasingly complex criminal prosecutions of offences under various federal statutes in Courts across British Columbia; serves as a mentor to students and young lawyers; and provides legal education to lawyers and law enforcement agencies. Baljinder is a leader in promoting and advocating for equity, diversity and inclusion in the public service and the legal profession. She serves as the National Advisor for Racialized Persons on the PPSC’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, is Co-Champion of the PPSC Bias-Free Workplace Initiative and Chair of the BC Committee. As a woman of color working in the legal profession, she proudly shares her lived experiences and mentors students and young lawyers from the South Asian and other diverse communities. Baljinder is an active member of the Canadian Bar Association – BC Branch. She is a Director-at-Large on its Board of Directors, member of Provincial Council and serves on various committees.
- Dr. Carol Liao is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Business Law at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. She is also the UBC Sauder Distinguished Scholar of the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at the UBC Sauder School of Business, and Principal co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative, a cross-disciplinary research hub advancing knowledge on fiduciary obligation and climate governance. Prior to academia, she practised mergers & acquisitions law in New York with an international firm. In 2021, she received the Influential Women in Business Award.
Moderator
- Audrey Jun is the Executive Producer for the “But I Look Like a Lawyer” Documentary, and is currently serving as Documentary Committee Chair for the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers BC (FACL BC). Audrey is a lawyer at KMK Law, where she practises in estates and trusts law, with a focus on serving families in the disability community. She is a member of the B.C. Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) Action Group, a network of leaders in B.C. appointed by the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, and has previously served on the board of the Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre, a charitable organization that was instrumental in the in the community-based reform of British Columbia’s adult guardianship legislation.
Host
- Steven Ngo is currently the Vice President (Marketing) of FACL BC. He has been on the FACL BC board since 2019 and is the founder (and past president) of the Alberta chapter of Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers in 2014. Steven works as senior counsel at Visier where he specializes in technology and business transactions. Previously, he practiced at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Calgary and Linklaters LLP in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to FACL, he is the founder of Beyond the A (beyondthea.co), an organization that seeks to destigmatize anxiety and empower lawyers to thrive in their careers and is the chair of the Advocacy Committee of the Vietnamese Professionals Association BC (vpabc.org) Outside of law, he enjoys writing music, playing tennis and is currently learning four languages.
Registration Fee
There is no registration fee for this event.
CPD
This event is approved for 1 hour of Continuing Professional Development in BC, including 1 hour of the ethics, professional responsibility and practice management component for your Law Society of BC reporting.
Questions? Please contact documentary@faclbc.ca
To learn more: https://faclbc.ca/documentary/
Social Media
Please also stay updated via our social media here:
Thank you to the Law Foundation of BC for providing funding for this documentary project.
