At Dentons, our exceptional talent sets us apart. Our journey to foster an inclusive workplace started more than 15 years ago and is rooted in an unwavering belief that the diverse lived experiences and diverse talents of all our people makes us stronger.

Our goal has always been to create a forward-thinking, inclusive culture where everyone can thrive and be themselves at work. When we are inclusive and diverse, we strengthen our ability to deliver innovative client solutions and create an exceptional place to work, while making an impact across all of our communities.

We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team as a business driver and as a key component to our Dentons Canada strategy. We take to heart the saying: “Diversity is about counting people, but inclusion is about making people count.” Learn more about the ways we creating the inclusive law firm of the future:

• Creating a more inclusive workforce
• Our commitment to gender diversity and the advancement of women
• Supporting inclusion in our communities
• Setting the foundation for an inclusive legal profession

Creating a more inclusive workforce

• Driving inclusion and diversity best practices. Our Canadian and global policies ensure we take into account all dimensions of inclusion and diversity across our business decisions, Talent strategies and in our ways of working
• Connecting with our clients and community to drive change. We actively seek opportunities to collaborate with our clients, community organizations and professional associations to engage in conversations surrounding inclusion of underrepresented groups and the advancement of women
• Diversifying career decisions. Our unique Dentons Career Playbook  provides a framework that supports our lawyers in developing their own unique path for career advancement
• Developing our team members. Ongoing learning and development programs available to our people on inclusion and diversity topics, including harassment and discrimination, mental health, privilege, accessibility and how to be an ally for underrepresented groups
• Making our people count. We regularly participate in engagement surveys, diversity reports and industry indices, such as the Stonewall Global Workplace Equality Index and Mansfield, to track and hold ourselves accountable for our diversity progress
• Being aware of personal bias. All our people who participate in recruitment or facilitate performance feedback receive unconscious bias training designed to reduce bias, understand privilege and to support our people and future talent pipelines
• Agile working. Supporting flexible work schedules and policies to empower our people with tools and resources that enable remote working to support with children, elderly parents, dependants and other personal matters
• Removing the stigma of mental health. Mental health awareness training to provide support and destigmatize mental wellbeing

Our commitment to gender diversity and the advancement of women

We are committed to the advancement of women at Dentons and in the legal profession, including:

• Signed onto the Catalyst Accord 2020, a call to action and commitment for Canadian businesses to accelerate the advancement of women in senior leadership roles by increasing the percentage of women on boards and in executive positions to 30% or greater by 2022.
• Setting our own aggressive targets beyond our Catalyst Accord 2020 commitment to reach our long-term commitment of 40% female representation among our partners and key leadership positions.
• Sharing our commitment to gender diversity, diversity demographic target setting and accountability to drive change. In 2019, Dentons was selected to participate in a case study by professional services firm McKinsey & Company highlighting our approach to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace, including how we exceeded targets to increase gender parity on our Canada board, and structural interventions to support the career progression of women at Dentons Canada.
• Building the profile of our women professionals as they become business influencers and community leaders, including through learning and development sessions, networking opportunities and panel discussions throughout the year. 

LGBT

• Empower LGBT law students during our annual Out on Bay Street Moot, a skill-based law competition in partnership with Start Proud to improve student’s legal research, analytical and advocacy skills
• Lead sponsor at the Start Proud New Precedent Conference, Canada’s first LGBT law student recruitment conference and career fair
• Sponsor and participate in the Out on Bay Street Career Fair and Conference, Canada’s largest LGBT+ student recruitment career fair connecting business LGBT students to organizations and business leaders who advocate for LGBT inclusion

Persons with Disabilities

• Partner with community organizations to provide opportunities for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities to improve their self-confidence, resilience and gain the skills required to return to the workforce

Setting the foundation for an inclusive legal profession

In our communities

• We were the first law firm in Canada to collect diversity metrics and conduct a diversity engagement survey
• We were the first law firm to sponsor Start Proud, supporting the professional development of LGBT students across Canada
• We were one of the first law firms to sign onto the Catalyst Accord 2022 to accelerate the advancement of women in senior leadership roles
• We are a founding member of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion
• We were the first to offer specialized programs for internationally-trained lawyers to help integrate skilled new Canadians into legal practice
• We were the first law firm to sign on to the Law Firm Diversity and Inclusion Network, working collaboratively with Canadian law firms to advance inclusion and diversity in the legal profession
• We are one of the co-founding partners of Pride at Work Canada

In our workplace

• We encourage all Firm members to add their preferred gender pronoun to their email signature block and on their firm external bio
• Our annual Global Pride Day recognizes our commitment to LGBT inclusion in celebration of the anniversary of our global LGBT Network and in recognition of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
• We use gender pronoun stickers at our Talent, Student and inclusion and diversity events to foster an inclusive environment where our people and guests can bring their whole self to work
• We host a series of linked discussions across the Firm, highlighting different aspects of inclusion and its importance as part of our annual Global Inclusion Day activities

News and Events

Recent Press Releases

Dentons announces the 2023-2024 recipient of annual scholarship in partnership with the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals

May 22, 2024

Dentons Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP), is thrilled to announce the recipient of the 2023-2024 Dentons-CAUFP Scholarship, Divine Tatchinda, a first-year student in the Bachelor of Civil Law and Juris Doctor program at McGill University in Montréal.

Dentons and CAUFP award inaugural scholarship to support Black law students in Canada

December 22, 2020

Dentons and the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP) have announced the first recipient of the Dentons-CAUFP Scholarship.

Dentons and Toronto Community Housing present Diversity Scholarships to three students leading the way in their communities

December 16, 2020

Every year since 2008, Dentons has partnered with Toronto Community Housing (TCH)’s Investing in Our Diversity Scholarships program to award a Dentons Diversity Scholarship to support high school students entering their first year of postsecondary education.

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