In January 2023, AWL passed a resolution to establish a membership fee waiver program for ten racialized lawyers annually, called the Rani Wong, K.C. Racialized Lawyer Membership Fund. This was done in recognition of the more than two decades of service to the AWL by Rani Wong, K.C., a former AWL President and Board Member, and a champion for equity and inclusion in the profession for racialized women lawyers.
The Rani Wong, K.C., Racialized Lawyer Membership Fund will begin offering covered memberships for the 2024 year and this program will be offered yearly. The fee waiver be a one-time only opportunity for any qualifying lawyer.
If you are interested in membership and identify as a racialized lawyer, please email us today. We expect the 10 memberships will be allocated in short order. Don’t delay in sending us your interest.
We encourage AWL Members to share this opportunity with their networks.
To apply for the one-time fee waiver please email kpratt@stikeman.com. Please include your name, year of call, firm, and practice area in your interest email. AWL will be in touch with all the applicants.
Rani Wong, K.C.’s Biography
Rani Wong, K.C., practices family law as a sole practitioner in association with Calgary Family Law Associates. She began her legal career 25 years ago as a commercial and finance lawyer, practicing with some of Canada’s top national law firms. She articled with Davis & Co. (now DLA Piper) in Vancouver and practiced in the financial services group with Osler Hoskin Harcourt in Toronto before moving to Singapore to do financial restructuring, debt financing and project financing work with the New York firm Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy. Rani then returned home to practice with the commercial energy group at Stikeman Elliott in Calgary after a brief in-house counsel stint.
After more than a decade in commercial and finance, Rani decided to change her practice completely and jumped into family law. She practices in a wide variety of areas within family law and is a trained mediator and arbitrator.
Rani is a strong proponent of giving back to the legal profession and community, especially in matters involving equity, diversity, and inclusion. She served in many capacities with the Association of Women Lawyers, including as its President, a member of its Board of Directors for more than 15 years, and chair of its Membership Committee for many years. In 2012, she developed AWL’s inaugural Mentoring Program for Women Lawyers in Calgary. More recently, she helped initiate the AWL Racialized Women Lawyers Mentoring Dinners, providing mentoring, support and encouragement to racialized women lawyers in Calgary.
She has also volunteered extensively with the Canadian Bar Association. She is the past Co-Chair of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and Diversity Section in Alberta and was a member of the National CBA Equality Subcommittee. She previously sat on the CBA Alberta Provincial Council and participated in the Legal Education and Training Working Group of the CBA Legal Futures Initiative.
In 2022, Rani was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Canadian Bar Association and the Law Society of Alberta for the Promotion of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Profession, and was appointed King’s Counsel.