2021 Benefit Report
PortaLaw has been a registered benefit company since January 25, 2021. This means we are a for-profit business that promotes public benefits such as charitable, economic, education or environment activities.
We are required by law to publish an annual report about our benefit-related activities. This report covers PortaLaw’s activities during our second fiscal year, which ended on October 31, 2021. See our 2020 report here.
Diversity + Inclusion. In 2021, we began taking small but important steps toward weaving diversity and inclusion into our operational and human resource infrastructure. For example, we conducted accessibility testing on our website, added our pronouns and name pronunciations to our biographies, and encouraged marginalized folks to access our services through free consultations.
Environment. Our entire team works from home, only driving out to our workshare space (Suite Genius) team meetings and social gatherings. We continue to lean on our tech stack, subscribe to virtual text books and other resources, and choose digital document management options in our client and internal workings. These are the small ways we are choosing to minimize our carbon footprint.
Education. In 2021, Paula and Erin hosted several free webinars including Gender Equity at Work in conjunction with our friends at Libra Consulting. Alongside speaking engagements, our team continues to expand our Resources, free online materials for workplace-related legal issues. We provide accessible legal information for managers and workers alike through articles and our new case law and legislative updates.
Economic. PortaLaw continued to seek business partners and suppliers that align with our values. We stayed local with every one of our suppliers and service providers, including using BCorps where possible.
Charitable. Once again, PortaLaw lawyers participated in and raised funds for Access Pro Bono’s annual Advice-a-Thon. Throughout the year, we offered time-limited free legal consultations for folks facing discrimination at work based on their gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and race, colour, ancestry or place of origin. We donated to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.
