Interview with BFL on new opportunities, the launch of the law school’s Black Student Application Process, and the future of the program
It has been just over a year into the official launch of the Black Future Lawyers (BFL) program, a collaboration between the Faculty of Law, the Black Law Students Association, and members of the Black legal community, including Black alumni. On February 26, Ultra Vires (UV) sat down with Rebecca Barclay Nguinambaye (3L) to discuss her experience with the BFL program and ways it may change in the future. Nguinambaye is part of the BFL Working Group, primarily focused on the undergraduate chapter subcommittee. She was formerly President of U of T’s BLSA and currently acts as its Strategic Advisor.
UV: What is the Black Future Lawyers program?
RBN: The BFL program is a recent initiative between U of T’s BLSA and the Faculty of Law, although it has been in the making for several years. Its main purpose is to increase Black representation in law schools by providing support at all stages of the law school admissions process. While we partner with Law in Action Within Schools to reach high school students, our main target audience at this point is undergraduate students. We offer year-long mentoring opportunities with Black legal professionals, speed mentoring, professional development options, speaker series, and panels. We also help with the application process, and once in law school, there’s some support established for the BLSA although we’re working on increasing it.
Overall, the BFL program is a way to build community within the Black legal community and to connect Black students thinking about or in law with the support they need.
UV: What was the inspiration for this program?
RBN: We modelled our program off the U of T’s Faculty of Medicine’s Black Student Application Program. The founders of that program worked with us to help tailor a similar program to the Faculty of Law. The idea is to build up initiatives around these communities of support so it’s not just a one-off resource here and there, but a holistic program that addresses a lot of barriers to law.
Since then, I’ve seen pieces of the program being taken up at other law schools. We have also expanded our reach beyond U of T to connect with Black students at other university campuses.
UV: What sort of activities has BFL been involved in this year?
RBN: Our third annual Black Future Lawyers conference is happening on March 13. The one-day conference is open to BFL undergraduate student members to provide key information on how to become a lawyer. This year is the first year we’re using a virtual platform.
We also run speaker and panel events. We just ran our third panel as part of a series called BECOMING, a set of discussions that explores different legal careers of Black lawyers. The first of the series was on corporate law. This third panel was on public interest law and hosted two judges of the Ontario Court of Justice, including the Honourable Justice Lori A. Thomas, the most recently appointed judge of the Superior Court.
We supported the three undergraduate chapters at other campuses in their events. As members of BLSA, we have been sitting on panels, promoting their events, and providing ongoing mentorship. BFL undergraduate members have also been invited to various talks hosted by the law school with their Lawyers Doing Cool Things With Their Law Degrees series.
UV: Of the current 1L class, only four per cent self-identify as Black. During the 2020-2021 application cycle, U of T Law for the first time has included the Black Student Application Process (BSAP) as part of BFL. Can you speak a bit about what the BSAP is and its importance?
RBN: The BSAP is an optional screen offered for Black applicants applying to U of T Law. Applicants who self-identify as Black are prompted to write an additional essay which asks them why they are applying through the BSAP stream. This is to make it clear that they are encouraged to talk about their Black identity and how it influenced their decision to go to law or how they hope to use their legal degree in a way that relates to the Black community. There is a lot of flexibility for applicants to discuss whatever is important to them.
Applications made through the BSAP are reviewed by the BSAP subcommittee which guarantees that at least two of their reviewers are Black students, alumni, or legal practitioners. To be clear, applicants applying through the BSAP still have to meet numeric and other criteria that all applicants are assessed on. The BSAP hopes to address the ongoing unconscious bias that, to whatever extent, continues to be a barrier to higher acceptance rates of Black students. This signals U of T Law is trying to be more welcoming and inclusive, and taking seriously the fact that there is not much Black culture here that would otherwise be appealing to applicants.
UV: What has been your favourite part of BFL this year?
RBN: For me, it has to be hearing about the progress and development that the undergraduate BFL chapters have made. I feel quite invested in their legal journeys, specifically the chapters at Western University, McMaster University, and York University which are all led by really phenomenal Black female undergraduate students. It’s super exciting to see everything they want to do and how many other Black undergraduate students are being drawn to think about law as a career. I like to help them make that a reality.
UV: I was surprised to see you and other students aren’t compensated for their work. Do you think this will change?
RBN: Eventually, I think [compensation] is a conversation that we’ll have but the initiative really started as a vision of BLSA students and then they received Faculty support. They also received alumni support that helped get the ball rolling. They pushed the law school to do something like this. So at the outset it was BLSA members coming to the school with a proposal and taking the lead on it. At the time, it was more important that it got done. Now that it’s big and there’s sustainable funding, we can definitely turn to conversations like that.
UV: What sort of changes would you like to see in the BFL program?
RBN: Primarily, more support for current Black law students. As I said, this started with us and there is definitely a trend for a Black law student to try to take on the world and put a lot on their shoulders. It is partly due to our lack of self-care that we didn’t ensure that there were robust resources for us in law school, and focused more on supporting the undergraduates and the recruitment. Now that we have greater funding and paid staff we can depend on for at least year-long contracts, we can start asking how current Black law students can be supported.
I should add, I’d love to see more Black art in the law building, including portraits of Black alumni which are currently in less visible areas of the law building. Since our numbers are growing, we could also use a space in the law building specifically for Black students to relax and be comfortable with one another.
UV: Where do you see the BFL program going in the future?
RBN: I hope it eventually outlives its usefulness and we won’t need robust resource-driven programs anymore. This is since it’ll be guaranteed that Black students have equal access to education, mentors, professional development activities, and the knowledge they need to pursue a legal degree.
Until then, I hope to see more support from the wider community. It’s amazing that 14 leading firms have committed such substantial funding, and I’m really grateful for that, but I’d love to see financial support along with goodwill support and community members wanting to talk about BFL and share it widely. I’d like to see other organizations support us in addition to law firms.
I’d also like to see more undergraduate BFL chapters, because that’s where undergraduate students can really make the program work for them. With our increased funding, I’m hoping that those at the local level can be creative in asking for support since they have a much better understanding of what they need or would be useful. They can have more freedom and autonomy to make the program work for them.
Finally, I hope the BFL program is something BLSA members can remain proud of and not be a burden to our Black volunteers, potentially through compensation, reduced labour hours, and increased benefits from the program for current students.
UV: Are there ways that non-Black members of the U of T law community can support BFL?
RBN: Absolutely! Promotion is always crucial. Also, in previous years and in the future after the pandemic, a lot of the BFL events occured in the building during class hours. Black students around the building may be prospective students so it would be wonderful for students to create a welcoming and warm atmosphere.
In the future, some of our events may expand to require student volunteers so please stay tuned and keep updated for calls for support. We also welcome the sharing of any other initiatives or resources that may be tailored to Black students, other students of colour, first generation students, low-income students, etc. There’s a lot of intersections that some of our members will face so we would love to share with them any resources students may come across.
Finally, just be encouraging to BLSA members, acknowledge all their work, and recognize the times when they just want to feel like a normal law student who’s not doing advocacy work all the time. This can include making sure BLSA members are welcome to non-advocacy events and engagements. Not that BFL isn’t fun but it’s fun with a purpose — sometimes we just want fun with no purpose!
You can learn more about Black Futures Lawyers by visiting us at https://bfl.law.utoronto.ca/ and following us on Twitter (@BlackFutureLawr) and Instagram (@blackfuturelawyers).
