I've been writing of my experience in attending the most recent CBA National Immigration Law Conference in Vancouver this spring; I got the opportunity to chat with a few lawyers and I found that inspiring. Despite the different paths that we all took in the process of becoming immigration advocates, the same themes kept popping up. The desire to assist others; the early exposure to injustice and an appreciation of the obstacles that newcomers face; the rewards of guiding someone through a difficult, labyrinthine process.
All of the lawyers were asked the same basic questions; to introduce themselves, how they came to the practice of immigration law, what they find most rewarding and finally what advice they would give to their younger selves or to lawyers just starting out.
Here, I caught up with Jennifer Pollock, an immigration lawyer in Toronto. I met Jennifer I think through Twitter. I've been on Twitter more or less from the beginning, and while I'm aware of the dangers of social media (largely being a time sink), there are some advantages as well, such as meeting (usually) young, driven lawyers from across the country who share many of my concerns regarding the immigrant experience and immigration law and policy.
This interview really reminded me of starting out after leaving the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2004. I can't believe it's been 12 years! Jennifer really impressed me; she's very articulate, and despite being called to the bar in 2012, clearly a skilled advocate. She's had some great mentors and some unique experiences that clearly inform her practice today. It's also very clear that she is following her passion, and that state of mind always, inevitably, shines through.
My name is Jennifer Pollock and I practice immigration and refugee law in Toronto. I am a sole practitioner of my own firm. I was called to the bar in 2012 after I articled with the Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, and they focus on working with women survivors of violence. That's become a really big part of my practice now, and then I spent some time in a larger immigration firm before I then went off on my own. Most of my practice is to do with refugees, so doing refugee claims, doing federal court work for refugees. The another part of my practice is working with survivors of violence, so conditional permanent resident, abuse exemptions, doing a lot of those right now, some humanitarian applications as well. That runs the gamut of my focus.
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When I was in undergrad I had the opportunity to do some human rights work overseas for about 10 months. Part of that was working with internally displaced women in Ghana, in west Africa. That really gave me a keen interest in how it is that women find themselves in that situation. Then when I got to law school I had the supreme privilege of practicing as a law student with Geraldine Sadaway at Parkdale Community Legal Services, and so that was a really wonderful experience and ignited my passion for refugee law specifically. That's where the real passion began and continued. I had an amazing professor at law school, Sean Rehaag in refugee law, so that also ignited the passion even further. That's how I really got into the field.
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I think, generally, the best time for me working with a client is once we're successful, especially when someone has gone through a lot of trauma in their life, when they come into the office after we've achieved some sort of success for them and you see the dramatic change in who they are, it's the most gratifying moment. When you see someone who was almost too fearful to tell you their story come into your room and speak with you and they just have this exuberance about them that makes you think, you know what, everything that I do, even when I'm not successful is worth it for the potential that it could lead to this.
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...I don't know how much advice I have to offer but I think one piece of advice I do have for myself if I could go back and give myself some advice, would be I get a lot of e-mails from younger lawyers asking if they could meet with me, understand more about my practice, and I wish that I had done that more. I did not do that enough. I did not reach out enough, and I think that that's really valuable, just sitting down with someone who practices the same thing that you want to practice and asking them questions. I'm still very new to the practice, but when I was even newer I sort of assumed that lawyers were too busy to talk to me, they didn't want to talk to me, they didn't want to share with me. Now that I have my own practice, I realize that that's an important component of being a lawyer and that's really valuable. If I could go back in time I would tell myself reach out more, don't be scared. Just ask people questions and they're more than welcome to entertain your thoughts and your questions.
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