Racial quotes for law schools are not a handout: Perspectives from a top criminal defence lawyer

Roxanne Kat | October 27th, 2020

Jag Virk is a criminal defence lawyer working out of his Toronto law firm in the heart of Yorkville. Jag completed his undergrad at McMaster University and then completed his law degree at the University of Leeds in the UK. He is the first East Indian criminal defence lawyer to own a law firm on Bay Street and represent celebrities in Canada.

When I first decided to interview Jag Virk, I wanted this piece to be inspiring for my fellow racial minority undergraduate students hoping to pursue a career in law. With all the recent attention that systemic racism has been receiving in the media, I figured this was the perfect time to lighten the atmosphere and bring a sense of hope for anyone feeling disheartened by the glaring oppression that’s finally been upheaved. However, our conversation ended up being a much more important one, and I believe that it will not only shed further light on the injustices that racial minorities face but it will also be greatly impactful for anyone who plans on facing the law school admissions process in the near future.

Hamilton, Ontario is a difficult place to be for a person of colour. The feeling of discomfort can be recalled all-too-clearly by Jag as he was growing up being part of the less than 20% visible minority population. (1) “Hamilton is one of the most racist cities in Canada. Growing up in my neighbourhood it was mostly white people, there were almost no racial minorities at that time. I saw a lot of injustice growing up, and experienced it myself as well.” For many Canadians of non-European descent, the feeling of being excluded from a sense of community is an everyday challenge that weighs heavily on their self-esteem and conception of future prospects. While it is hoped that everyone, regardless of race, comes to this country in order to live meaningful and free lives, this simply can’t happen without understanding the complex psychosocial experience of a life lived as a visible minority. “I grew up in a tough neighbourhood and I had to fight for almost everything. I had to be strong mentally in order to survive. I connected my experience growing up seeing all this racism with the book To Kill a Mockingbird, which we read in grade 6. It was about a white lawyer defending a black client in the ’60s in the South. I knew I wanted to become a lawyer after reading that because I was always a fighter and protestor for equality and rights.”

Even being fortunate enough to grow up financially stable, Jag describes his journey to becoming a lawyer as one full of hardships. “Starting with not getting into law school here. I believe racism was a factor, especially then. Now there’s more awareness in trying to get ethnic minorities into law school but back then it wasn’t the case.” For many students, myself included, we hope that our hard work, academic achievement, and personal strengths will be the deciding factors in attaining our goals of one-day becoming successful lawyers. We couldn’t imagine that such a redundant feature of ourselves, like skin colour or family ties, could possibly outweigh all the unmistakable potential that we have to offer the legal field. The sad reality is that it isn’t always the case: “I wasn’t able to find a summer student position. Especially in Hamilton, it was tough to find someone who would work with me and there was quite a bit of systemic racism back then that makes it harder for ethnic minorities. I could not find a position in criminal articles and I started my articling late because of that. I couldn’t find a job in Hamilton as a criminal lawyer so then I ended up in downtown Toronto, eventually finding a job as a criminal lawyer. But I was from Hamilton, I wanted to work there, so I had to move cities just to achieve my dream.”

To live with the added mental pressure that a visible minority law student experiences every moment is a hurdle that nobody should ever have to endure. “At some points, it felt like it was not possible, especially because at the time there were no big black or brown criminal lawyers. Most of the visible minority criminal lawyers don't usually get the big cases. I had to be willing to accept that.” Even after having successfully passed the BAR examination, Jag describes his experience working in the legal field carrying the psychological burden of racist exclusion: “After opening up my own practice, I still had to deal with a lot of systemic racism. A lot of potential clients want to hire a white lawyer. They see white crowns, white lawyers, police officers, and they think a white lawyer can serve them better. Even within the criminal justice system, I felt like I didn’t fit in because I felt very segregated between the majority of white lawyers and judges. The judges and criminal lawyers were friendly and I didn’t have that privilege. I would have to be cheaper so that I could get clients. I had to reduce my rates significantly in order to gain my client base.”

Unfortunately, the story that Jag describes is not uncommon for many students and legal professionals. It is after many years of activism that universities have finally begun to make steps towards achieving fair treatment of all individuals. Universities among other initiatives, have now started instituting racial quotas for admissions. However, some students may avoid enrolling in these programs as they may feel that they are being granted an unfair advantage based on trivial factors of themselves rather than the true merit of their applications. I further asked Jag whether he thought this system was implicitly racist and undermining minority students’ abilities. He responded in a very enlightening way: “No, I think it’s great; I think they should lower it some more. We need more black and brown lawyers because it’s not fair that the majority of the lawyers are white. For black and brown students that become lawyers, we sometimes have to go to other countries to get our law degrees. If we can afford it we will do that, and become lawyers anyway. So why not allow students into Canadian law schools instead of making them spend so much money living abroad? What’s unfair is black and brown people who can’t afford to go to England or Australia and won’t even have a chance to become lawyers.”

I pressed him further and asked whether he felt that prospective lawyers, who received their training under such lenient conditions, will truly be fit for the job:“GPA is not even a true reflection of your competency as a lawyer. From what I’ve seen there are a lot of people who are very book smart, but they are not good lawyers. It’s another thing to think critically, cross-examine a witness, be on your feet, go to court versus to be able to memorize and study. There are many people who graduated from prestigious schools and did well on their LSATs but ended up not enjoying their work as lawyers. There’s nothing on the LSAT that proves competency. Especially because it’s timed. Just because someone needs a bit more time to think doesn’t mean they are going to be a bad lawyer. Some people are naturally slower readers.”

For those of us who have internalized the correlation between academic achievement and legal work, it is very difficult to accept that visible minorities do not need to feel guilty accepting the advantage that racial quotas in law school admissions grant them. Jag helped me understand this more adequately : “In England, a law degree is an undergrad degree. Someone straight out of high school can become a lawyer. I’ve seen firsthand people coming straight from high school and becoming great lawyers. It all serves as a gatekeeper function in which they know that most white people will be able to get in. Part of it is also having great references. Immigrants won’t be able to have those references- parents, and the family that are working in the field already can act as references. I’ve seen some of my friends who were top of their class, incredibly intelligent, and couldn’t get into law school. Then some other white kids, who weren’t as smart, got into law school. I believe they know what they’re doing. The curriculum and these schools were created by racist white people. Only a short while ago did they start allowing immigration from other countries, so these gatekeeper functions really serve to segregate and promote systemic racism.”

Many opponents of racial quotas will claim that the goal of affirmative action is simply to diversify classrooms in order to save face for universities — while not actually contributing to the deeper issues surrounding racism. This stance fails to realize that these measures are the first steps in reparations to an unbalanced legal field.

“I think it’s important to try to reverse what’s been happening in the past. As far as the majority of the lawyers being white and most entrances to law school being white. We don’t really know if there is systemic racism but I believe there is. When people deny that it exists there’s no way of really knowing for sure who’s right. The schools deny that it exists. Most studies and stats show that there is systemic racism. It’s so difficult to pinpoint exactly what the x-factor is in the whole system. The only way to fix it is to institute those quotas because the law schools hide behind the fact that a lot of students have good marks and do good on the LSAT. So they value the applicants based on some other factors, but what are those other factors? So we have to institute those quotas to make sure that our honour bar is getting an equal representation that resembles our actual population.”

In closing, I asked Jag what his career looks like today. “I was the first East Indian criminal law firm on Bay Street and I’m still here 15 years later. Like I said it was tough, people want a white lawyer. I was doing the same job for way less. Now I’m very well established but there is still systemic racism that I notice for my clients. I notice clients that are black or brown get harsher sentences than white clients. Especially for the bail process, even when they do get bail they get more restricted conditions like house arrest or curfew.” Although the journey for many racial minority students to become lawyers is tedious and riddled with barriers, the system is finally making changes to reverse this terrible burden. I believe, after speaking with Jag on these topics, that students should make every effort to achieve their dreams, and to utilize these special privileges in light of a greater cause. The more diverse the legal field becomes, the greater advantage to society as a whole. “From the very beginning, it was racism. The cards are stacked against a black or brown person. Many people don’t realize this. Do an undergrad you enjoy, just so you can get those high marks. There’s no such thing as a pre-law undergrad. Work hard, be committed, put in those long hours and always go the extra mile. For me, I always enjoyed my work so I always worked hard. It is definitely possible for anyone. I’m an example of that.”

Endnotes

1 . Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics. "Census Profile, 2016 Census". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Archived from the original on May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.