McCarthy Tétrault's chief executive officer Sunil Kapur is photographed at the company's offices in Toronto on Sept. 27, 2024. Mr Kapur said the firm fully respects Charlene Theodore’s decision to move on and is grateful for her dedication and expertise.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Charlene Theodore, the chief inclusion officer at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, is leaving the firm just months after a decision was made to pause a celebrated hiring program for Black and Indigenous law students.
According to two sources with knowledge of events, whom The Globe and Mail is not naming as they are not permitted to speak about the matter publicly, Ms. Theodore was not consulted about the decision to pause the program.
When asked for comment, Ms. Theodore – who joined McCarthy’s C-suite three years ago after serving as president of the Ontario Bar Association, the first Black lawyer to lead the organization – referred The Globe to a spokesperson at the firm.
The firm announced Ms. Theodore’s departure internally last week. In a memo viewed by The Globe, McCarthy Tétrault called Ms. Theodore an “invaluable member of our leadership team” who contributed significantly to the success of Inclusion Now, its award-winning diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.
“Charlene’s dedication and expertise have left a lasting impact on all of us, particularly in respect of her unwavering commitment to inclusion, pro bono work and community engagement.”
It continued to say that Steeves Bujold, a litigation partner in the Quebec Region, would take over as interim CIO on May 5.
Mr. Bujold, the firm wrote, has been a strong supporter of 2SLGBTQ+ communities n Canada and abroad. In the past, he chaired the firm’s Pride Action Group and was the first president of the Canadian Bar Association to have a same-sex spouse.
Ms. Theodore addressed her departure in a LinkedIn post on Monday, saying that with “mixed emotions” she had decided to move on to the next chapter of her career.
“I want to express gratitude to every partner, lawyer, law student, and team member who supported me during my tenure,” she wrote. “The success of Inclusion Now represents a collective commitment to shifting away from the old ways of running a law firm that excluded many talented people, and leaning into a new culture of innovation and allyship.”
Ms. Theodore’s exit comes at a difficult time for McCarthy Tétrault, with some lawyers within the firm worrying that recent changes may be a precursor to future rollbacks of its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
For years, McCarthy Tétrault has been a leader on DEI initiatives within the legal community. The firm has repeatedly been recognized for this work, including just last month when it was honoured by Catalyst – a global non-profit dedicated to gender equity and workplace inclusion – with an award for its “best-in-class” initiatives.
But in February, The Globe revealed that McCarthy Tétrault had paused an initiative it launched in 2020 that offered summer positions to Black and Indigenous first-year law students. The goal of the program, which the firm described as “ground-breaking” on its website, was to pull more racialized talent into McCarthy Tétrault’s hiring pipeline. The award-winning “1L Black and Indigenous Summer Program” has been credited with leading to a notably more diverse associate pool.
In a statement at the time, McCarthy Tétrault said the decision to pause the program was made as part of a strategic review of its overall recruitment approach. It did not respond to questions about if or when it would resume the initiative.
On Monday, the firm elaborated on the move in an e-mail to The Globe.
Chief executive officer Sunil Kapur said in a statement that the decision to pause the first-year hiring program for Black and Indigenous students was done to give the firm time to ensure “that we have the best possible reach into the Indigenous community and other diverse populations, as well as the infrastructure needed to support the success of all our recruits.”
He added: “Unfortunately, that pause for reflection was misinterpreted as a departure from our commitment to inclusion. This cannot be further from the truth.”
Mr. Kapur, said that the firm doesn’t view DEI as a “one-off set of programs or policies,” but rather “the values and commitments that are at the heart of how we operate and who we are.”
He said that McCarthy Tétrault fully respects Ms. Theodore’s decision to move on and that they are grateful for her dedication and expertise.
The pausing of the first-year hiring program comes as corporations across Canada and the United States have been walking back DEI initiatives, which have become a favourite target of the second Trump administration.
Internally at McCarthy Tétrault, a number of lawyers – white lawyers and racialized lawyers – were troubled by the decision to pause the initiative under the guise of a recruitment review, particularly because the firm was still planning to run a first-year hiring program for students interested in intellectual property law.
Tensions escalated further after news began to spread that Ms. Theodore, who has been named one of Canada’s 25 Most Influential Lawyers by Canadian Lawyer Magazine, was not consulted about the decision.
Ms. Theodore’s exit comes amid a number of other departures by prominent Black lawyers. In January, litigator Junior Sirivar, who had been with McCarthy Tétrault for more than 20 years, left to join Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP’s litigation and dispute resolution group.
And just a week ago, Atrisha Lewis, one of the most prominent Black women in Canadian law, announced that she too was leaving the firm after 14 years.
Both Mr. Sirivar and Ms. Lewis declined to comment.
In a LinkedIn post, Ms. Lewis wrote that during her career – particularly since she made partner – she has received hundreds of messages from students and lawyers, who have told her how inspiring it has been to see someone like her succeed.
“I know how important representation is. I think many who do not understand the importance of representation simply haven’t received the messages that I have. I know that I must follow my passion and the weight of representation cannot, and should not, be on my shoulders alone,” she wrote.
“But to those of you who look like me and who want to be in Big Law, I hope you keep going. The legal industry needs you to persist. I hope law firms do everything in their power to reduce barriers, support you and make you feel included.”