It was not until the voting closed that we fully realized the heightened importance this year
The Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers is Canadian Lawyer’s most popular feature of the year. However, this was clearly no ordinary year. Just as the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada in March, we launched our call for nominations.
At that time, lawyers were scrambling to shift their workplace away from the office. The economy — and the legal system — had ground to a halt. Most Canadians were focused on whether our health-care system was prepared for an influx of patients such as what Italy and China had experienced.
While many nominations came in, we also received questions about this list: Will it proceed? Is it really an “essential service”?
While we did extend the deadline and provided some flexibility in the format of nominations, we decided to proceed as we have for the past 10 years. After we received hundreds of nominations in April, we pared them back to 174 candidates that met our criteria.
As the panic of the spring became the new pandemic reality in the summer, we presented the list to our readers to vote. It was not until the voting closed that we fully realized the heightened importance this survey took on during the pandemic. As lawyers were managing crises large and small, they were also isolated from their peers, with no events or office spaces in which to congregate. Highlighting the achievements of lawyers across the country took on a whole new meaning by creating community in isolation.
The numbers back that up. With more than 19,000 votes, the Canadian legal community had spoken volumes about the importance of celebrating achievements in a crisis. From collaboration between criminal lawyers and Crowns to keep justice moving during the pandemic to making spaces for a diversity of voices and perspectives as Black Lives Matters demonstrators filled the streets, winners emerged that represented the best of the profession.
While awards and recognition are not the main motivators for these lawyers, lists such as the Top 25 allow their peers to cheer them on. During the pandemic, lawyers stepped up and connected with each from afar. In 2020, it became apparent just what an essential service this is.
