Law Times

Page 12 FOCUS March 4, 2013 �� Law Times ��� Firms harnessing benefits of providing culturally sensitive services BY SHARON HO For Law Times W ith immigration law by definition involving clients from diverse backgrounds, speaking more than English in order to understand people���s stories is particularly important for practitioners in that area. Manjit Singh, a lawyer with Cambridge LLP in Toronto, is one practitioner who recognizes the importance of speaking other languages in order to meet clients��� needs. Singh, who practises immigration law and commercial litigation, speaks Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu in addition to English. Cambridge LLP also has lawyers who speak French, Russian, and Spanish. ���Because of the shrinking of the global village and everything being internationalized in the global economy, most of our clients have international needs,��� says Singh. ���There are also many people here that prefer or are even limited to communication in languages other than English or French,��� he adds. Of course, firms across a variety of practice areas can benefit from providing services in different languages. Carranza LLP, which ���We don���t make the asbills itself as an ethnic persumption that there���s only sonal injury law firm, also one culture in the world or recognizes the importance one way of doing things,��� of reaching out. When Juan says Carranza. Carranza established his Being able to commuToronto firm in 1994, his nicate in other languages intention was to mainly allows Carranza to develop serve the Latin American trusting relationships with community. But he soon reclients and dig deeper into alized there was a growing their cases. demand for legal services in ���Communication enother languages. ables us to meet our clients, Carranza believes havextract information from ing an understanding of our clients, be able to unother cultures and being derstand their perspective able to communicate in different languages is integral ���We realized that often you have to use to internalize that reality, interpreters, but it���s infinitely better if you to his firm. Carranza LLP, can communicate directly with the lawyer and be able to present that located on Finch Avenue without the assistance of a third person,��� reality in order to advance that cause,��� says Carranza. West in Toronto, provides says Juan Carranza. ���We realized that often legal services in 24 languages. Some of the most commonly spoken lan- you have to use interpreters, but it���s infinitely guages besides English include Spanish, Pun- better if you can communicate directly with jabi, Hindi, and Vietnamese. The firm���s web the lawyer without the assistance of a third person. Sometimes there are concerns about site is also available in 12 languages. Carranza���s background as an immigrant to confidentiality. Often these are members of Canada and a former interpreter made him the same community and they don���t want prirealize the need to provide legal services in the vate matters of the family to be known in the community.��� client���s own language. ONTARIO LAWYER���S PHONE BOOK 2013 YOUR MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND COURTS With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer���s Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. More detail and a wider scope of legal contact information for Ontario than any other source: ��� More than 26,000 lawyers ��� More than 9,000 law ���rms and corporate of���ces ��� Fax and telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, of���ce locations and postal codes Perfectbound ��� Published December each year On subscription $71 One time purchase $74 L88804-589 Multiple copy discounts available Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. Includes lists of: ��� Federal and provincial judges ��� Federal courts, including a section for federal government departments, boards and commissions ��� Ontario courts and services, including a section for provincial government ministries, boards and commissions ��� Small claims courts ��� Miscellaneous services for lawyers Visit carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation www.lawtimesnews.com By providing culturally sensitive and linguistically diverse services, Carranza can often get better compensation for his personal injury clients. This was true in the case of a client from India who had won a gold medal in school there. She obtained a ���modest paying job��� after arriving in Canada, according to Carranza. But he was able to get compensation for her based on her earning potential rather than her current job in Canada. ���When you can dig deeper into a client���s story, you���re able to argue that they should be compensated based on their real earning potential,��� says Carranza. Part of Carranza���s cultural competence is in recognizing that immigrants have a different income trajectory as opposed to the Canadian-born population. Carranza understands that immigrants often work longer days and more years, which affects how he argues for compensation. Carranza also believes there are intangible benefits in providing culturally sensitive legal services. ���They come to a place where they feel treated with respect from the moment they arrive,��� says Carranza. Carranza says providing culturally sensitive services is still a work in progress as his firm continually learns from its experiences with different clients. ���One of the things that is a no-brainer for us is that we are located in one of the most multicultural areas of the city,��� he adds. Despite the many languages spoken in Toronto, Carranza says what should be a ���common sense approach��� to legal services is still not the norm. He believes law schools could teach students about how to provide culturally sensitive and linguistically diverse legal services. ���What would be good is if people could internalize linguistic diversity in their firms and make it a strategic thrust as opposed to a gimmick to attract clients,��� he says. McCarthy T��trault LLP is another firm that has moved toward recognizing the importance of diversity. It recently appointed Lisa Vogt, who���s also a partner at the firm, to the newly created position of chief diversity and engagement officer. Vogt says diversity is one of the firm���s strategic priorities. McCarthys also started holding student diversity conferences in British Columbia and Montreal last year to discuss diversity issues. It���s now planning one for Calgary. Besides acknowledging that diversity is important in order to get business, McCarthys says it also recognizes the need to reflect its clients��� communities. ���More important than even that, we recognize a diversity of perspectives make for a stronger business performance, frankly for a better product, that we can give to our clients,��� says Vogt. LT

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