Turning obstacles into opportunities: Professor Kellinde Wrightson’s new book champions immigrant lawyers

Each year, Canada welcomes around 2,000 internationally trained lawyers seeking to re-establish their careers on Canadian soil. As of today, Statistics Canada reports that one in four Canadians is an immigrant. 

Many of these individuals arrive with the noble intention of supporting their families, both domestically and abroad, taking on roles such as driving for Uber, stocking grocery shelves, or serving at restaurants to make ends meet. Navigating the process of re-educating themselves to practise law in Canada presents a formidable challenge, fraught with numerous complexities and contextual nuances. 

In her book, Decoding Canadian Legal Research, Writing, and Conventions: A Guide for Internationally Trained Lawyers, professor Kellinde Wrightson from the Faculty of Law at UCalgary addresses this exact issue, providing a beacon of hope for those navigating the Canadian legal landscape. 

Recognizing the hardship of foreign-trained lawyers (FTLs) who arrive in a new country as highly skilled professionals only to find themselves limited to labour-intensive roles, Wrightson’s work serves to uplift and guide these individuals. 

Book highlights unique demands of Canadian legal system

Drawing from her extensive experiences as a foreign-trained lawyer herself and as director of the Foreign Trained Lawyers Program at UCalgary Law, Wrightson highlights the significance of approaching Canadian law with the right lens. She effectively aids the reader in understanding the unique demands of the Canadian legal system, and how they may reconcile their prior legal education to their present context. 

'Legal writing is an art'

Igor Kyryliuk, an alum of the Foreign Trained Lawyers Program and contributor to a chapter of the book, attests to the impact of Wrightson’s teachings:

"Writing is a skill, but legal writing is an art," he says. "For foreign-trained lawyers and non-native-English speakers, presenting an idea and persuading the reader to continually persevere through their challenges can be a tremendously arduous task. This is particularly true in legal profession, where there are certain rules, standards, and high level of expectation to what the writing should look like."

"Through this groundbreaking book, Dr. Kellinde Wrightson tackles this issue faced by so many FTLs by simplifying the legal education concepts and providing valuable tips and strategies that can help students make their legal re-education experience so much better."

Students the inspiration

This book is a product of the students who have inspired Wrightson with their strong determination to be practising lawyers in Canada. Wrightson recounts the sacrifices made by students, noting one student who worked in the railways during the day and would attend class in the evenings. 

Another student stocked shelves at Walmart, and another one would arrive in dusted Carhartt’s after coming from the construction site to attend class. 

The book features a lotus on the cover, representing the strength and resilience of FTLs. In addition, each student from the Foreign Trained Lawyers Program (students between 2021-2024) is heartwarmingly featured on the dedication page of the book.

Decoding Canadian Legal Research, Writing, and Conventions: A Guide for Internationally Trained Lawyers hit the shelves on the first week of April 2024, with copies coming to our campus libraries soon.