Additional Resources on Unconscious Bias

  • May 11, 2023
  • Sandy Lun & Fiona Wong, on behalf of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (British Columbia) Society

The Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (British Columbia) Society (“FACL BC”) is a diverse coalition of Asian Canadian legal professionals working to promote equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Canadian legal professionals and the wider community. FACL BC has a long history of advocating for racialized lawyers and law students, and speaking out against unconscious bias. If you are interested in learning more about the subject, consider listening or watching the resources listed below.

Podcast

Two years ago, FACL BC launched its own podcast on Spotify and Apple. The podcast created a space for legal professionals, community members, and individuals with law-adjacent careers to come together to share their personal experiences about the legal profession, including how each guest faced unconscious bias in their daily practices. Our podcast’s Asian Litigator Series in particular sheds light on the Asian-Canadian civil litigator experience. In Season 1 Episode 3, we interviewed Nerissa Yan, who was recently named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada in the Young Influencer Category for 2020. Nerissa is a founding partner and civil litigator at Yan Muirhead LLP. In that episode, we discussed Nerissa’s challenges of immigrating to Canada as an adult from China, having to adapt to Western culture, and learning English as a second language. Specifically, Narissa mentioned an incident where a partner of her former law firm reprimanded a client for asking that a lawyer who was more proficient in English be assigned in Nerissa’s place.

In Season 1 and 2 of our podcast, guest host Chilwin Cheng, principal of Ascendion Law, conducted a series of interviews that highlighted unconscious bias.