"The legal industry has a problem with sexual harassment.” An uncontroversial statement for any woman in the legal industry.  

In February 2024, the widely circulated Toronto Star article titled, “Sexual harassment, discrimination, forcing women lawyers to quit” focused on the idea that the legal industry has yet to have its #MeToo movement as, while many women lawyers experience sexual harassment, few file formal complaints for fear of career reprisal.

While the industry may not be experiencing the traditional #MeToo movement, women lawyers are challenging a more insidious, but still prevalent, form of harassment by holding workplaces accountable for failing to address bullying and intimidation. By going on to have successful careers, these women are actively challenging the narrative peddled by those who benefit from preserving a culture of silence, that commonly sounds like “don’t say anything or you will live to regret it.”

So why the culture shift? Traditionally, workplaces controlled the brand and reputation of women lawyers. When women departed workplaces for bullying and intimidation, it was the workplace who controlled the narrative surrounding the departure and could successfully label the woman as “the problem.” With other mediums, such as social media, becoming an increasingly powerful tool, women are able to cultivate their own brand, reputation and network. These new mediums have allowed women to combat attempts to spin false narratives and have created community around conversations that previously only occurred in whispers.

Sophie Purnell successfully “blended in” at her workplace for nearly four years when she experienced a racially discriminatory incident. After bringing the incident to the attention of her workplace, she says she faced a targeted race and gender-based “campaign of harassment and bullying,” which was infused with gender-based discrimination with demeaning comments that suggested that she was now a “bad little girl.” Despite the unwritten rule of silence in the legal profession, she decided to file a human rights complaint, while also speaking to the press and on social media. Sophie says she wanted women lawyers to know that “you’re not alone and those that do not support you were never going to support you anyway.” Sophie has since founded a successful employment law firm and focuses on representing women facing abuse in the workplace.

Even one act of bravery can create an extraordinary ripple effect. After facing intimidation and racial discrimination for over three years, Primrose Watson decided to flag this behaviour with her workplace. Primrose says she faced a targeted campaign of bullying and intimidation designed to administer her complaint in a manner that favoured the workplace’s leadership. When Primrose saw, through social media, that Sophie filed a human rights complaint, Primrose recognized that she had an obligation to speak out “or else nothing will change,” and filed a lawsuit. Primrose has since founded a successful tax law firm and has joined the Faculty of Law of a prominent Canadian law school.

Kathryn Marshall, whose employment law practice focuses on harassment and bullying of women in the workplace, is no stranger to this phenomenon. Kathryn also spoke out against her previous workplace for bullying and intimidation. Commenting on this culture shift Kathryn says, “for decades the legal industry has been able to hide abusive treatment of women through fear. Women are not scared anymore and as women continue to see success outside of the traditional structures, the wave of women speaking out will continue to build.” Kathryn is now a partner at a leading employment law firm and has successfully used social media to build her brand, which is focused on empowering women into challenging the status quo.

The legal industry’s #MeToo movement may not look the same, but women lawyers are setting the stage for a reckoning on all forms of abuse in the workplace by no longer whispering, but saying loudly to each other, “#Nomore to workplace bullying and intimidation.”