Canadian Bar Association Launches Podcast on Work Life Balance

At the Canadian Legal Conference in St. John’s in August 2006, the Canadian Bar Association’s Young Lawyers brought together a panel of experts to discuss the current "work life balance" situation at law firms, successful practices already in place to address the issue, and a real-life example of a law firm where recruitment and retention issues have virtually disappeared following the introduction of "balanced" policies.

The panelists were Jo-Anne Demers, a partner at the Canadian law firm of Nicholl, Paskell-Mede; James Hagy, a former partner at Jones Day and past-chair and current member of the board of trustees of the NALP Foundation for Law Research and Education; and Sonya Kunkel, who operates the Canadian office of Catalyst, a leading research and advisory organization working with businesses and the professions to expand opportunities for women at work. The session was moderated by Lisa Taylor, a lawyer and journalist who now practices as an associate at the Halifax law firm of Merrick Jamieson Sterns Washington & Mahody.

A podcast of the panel discussion was subsequently recorded and posted to PracticeLink (the Canadian Bar Association's online collection of resources offering tips and strategies for effectively managing, promoting and operating law firms).

Interested readers can click here to watch a synchronized Flash and audio version of the CBA's work life balance podcast (produced by eLawMarketing).

Click here to download an MP3 recording of the podcast (25 MB).