Rachel’s initiatives include involvement in various capacities with the Canadian Bar Association, speaking events featuring neurodiversity advocates within the legal profession, and the development of mentorship connections between neurodiverse law students and legal professionals.
Her commitment and involvement have made Lewis the Common Law Section’s fourth winner of the Royal Society of Canada’s Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella Prize.
The Prize, in the amount of $1,000, is presented annually to a graduating law student in each of the law schools in Canada who is most likely to positively influence equity and social justice in Canada or globally. It was created to mark Justice Abella’s retirement from the Supreme Court of Canada in 2021.
“It’s about highlighting disparities and fostering allyship,’ Lewis says. “I turned my challenges into action by supporting law students around me because it’s the right thing to do.
“Ultimately, however, it reflects my desire for Canada to uphold equity as a fundamental principle, even when unpopular.”
During her degree, she focused on building connections between neurodivergent law students and legal professionals across Canada, collaborating to create opportunities that foster greater understanding of their needs and the stigma-related challenges they face.
Since 2021 she built a community in British Columbia and Ontario, connecting with neurodiverse students and neurodiverse lawyers. In her first year, Lewis led a neurodiversity workshop for law professors, developed in partnership with a local neurodivergent educator and British Columbia’s Access to Justice Centre of Excellence. The workshop focused on inclusive learning design for law students.
“The workshop aimed to help professors understand and implement strategies that accommodate each student’s unique learning process, recognize indicators of individual learning strengths, and encourage meaningful discussions about the experiences of students who may feel overlooked. It also addressed the challenges professors face when teaching a diverse group of students with varying needs.”
Internationally, she formed conversations for potential international events with the Law Society of the UK’s Disabled Solicitors Network, EDI Advisor Chris Seel and local organizers, such as James Smither, who spoke with Canadian students about what law firms can do to establish equitable environments for individuals with ADHD and Autism.
“I took these actions because I believe the legal profession must do more to support accessibility and equitable practices that benefit everyone.”
She is also part of a group of lawyers from Quebec and Ontario dedicated to advancing neurodiversity in the legal profession while o respecting individual’s choices around non-disclosure and the confidentiality of their diverse abilities.
She co-published articles in Law360 with Rebekah Smith, who is a lawyer and former Justice Abella Recipient, and on bar association websites to educate and provide solutions to these issues.
Lewis also participated in panels for the Stanford Neurodiversity Project and NEADS and created the Canada Neurodiversity in Law Project (CNDL) website, in collaboration with the Access to Justice Centre of Excellence, to reduce the isolation felt by law students and lawyers with diverse abilities across Canada.
While in law school, she also worked as a program leader at Ottawa’s Overbrook Community Centre’s After School Program and soccer instructor and her supervisor noted that “Rachel’s passion for recreation and giving back to the community has shown through every shift she has attended.”
She has helped create culturally safe, disaggregated data for Black law students and Indigenous faculty members.
In her first year of law school, as National Director of Advocacy for the Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA), she worked collaboratively with others to publish the first-ever nationwide census on the underrepresentation of Black law students in Canada.
To show allyship, she wrote an article for the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations urging the hiring of more Indigenous and Black law professors due to their disproportionate representation. Individually, she contacted law faculties, Black and Indigenous law professors, BLSA Chapters, and Indigenous law student governments and associations to gather her findings.
Lewis, who will be articling at Demas Schaefer Family Lawyers in Edmonton, said she is “deeply honoured” to receive the award, but emphasized it is not about recognition.
She said the award is a reminder of three core values.
“First, neurodiversity is a natural and valuable part of human difference. Second, the legal profession benefits when it welcomes diverse ways of thinking, providing opportunities not just to thrive but to lead and reshape the field.
“Third, no one should feel compelled to disclose their neurodivergence just to be understood or included. While neurodiversity brings strengths and hardships, raising awareness and support fosters an environment that values diverse perspectives and improves how we relate to clients, collaborate with colleagues, and engage with supervising lawyers.”
Post-graduation, she will be working with the Access to Justice Centre of Excellence to find further ways to advance support for lawyers and law students in the legal profession across different provinces and to support neurodiverse lawyers who do not wish to disclose their diverse abilities.
Congratulations to Rachel Lewis on this important award!