Spotlight: Jennifer Lau
Jennifer Lau is the Director of Career Services at the Peter A. Allard School of Law and was a past President of FACL BC.
1. What is something that not many people know about you?
Before starting law school, I lived and worked in Washington, DC in the early 2000s. I worked at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History on Asian Pacific American initiatives, and then in university student services at the University of Maryland-College Park, where I advised Asian Pacific American student groups. As the daughter of Hong Kong and Chinese immigrants to Canada, I was born and raised on the west coast of Canada, and those years that I spent as a young adult on the East Coast of the US were some of my most formative experiences. I decided to go to law school (in Canada) because my time in the US instilled in me a desire to be a better citizen, and understand how the "system" worked. I've never regretted the decision to go to law school!
2. How did you first get involved with FACL BC?
I've been involved with FACL BC from the very beginning! Serene Chow, our founding President, invited me to a dinner at Kirin in downtown Vancouver with Judge Maryka Omatsu to discuss the founding of a BC chapter of FACL. 29 of us gathered on August 29, 2011, and from there, a movement grew. It feels like ages ago, but also just like yesterday since I am still in touch with so many of the folks who were at that original dinner. Since then, I have been President, a board member, and Gala chair, and I am so delighted to be "just" a member now and see that FACL BC continues to thrive and lead the conversation on the need for diversity in the legal profession.
3. What has been your favourite FACL event or initiative so far?
Every single one of the FACL BC Galas that I've attended. It is always so inspiring to be in a room with hundreds of Asian-Canadian judges, lawyers, and law students, and our allies.
4. What advice would you give yourself if you were to go back in time?
Self-care is an investment in Future You.
