Donald McLeod may occupy a lofty post as an Ontario Supreme Court Justice, but his beginnings were decidedly more humble.
McLeod grew up in subsidized housing, first in Regent Park and then in Scarborough, but never wavered from his longtime dream of pursuing a career in law.
“I knew I wanted to be a lawyer from the time I was 10 years old,” he said. “When you’re young, you just know lawyers are pretty powerful. Living in an economically depressed area, people were fighting to get out and lawyers were some of the people helping them fight.”
While he admits his grades were not the best until he started getting serious about his studies in university, McLeod had a natural knack for public speaking and debating that served him well in his chosen field.
He also got a boost from student assistance, with the province providing a loan that helped him fund his education.
“The only way I could get through school was OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program),” he said. “Without that, there’s no way I’d have been able to attend.”
After being called to the bar in 1998, McLeod started practicing criminal law at the firm of Hinkson, Sachak. A few years later he founded his own firm, The McLeod Group, which had a strong focus on criminal, human rights and administrative law.
“I was friends with Johnnie Cochran and I kind of mimicked him – his firm was called the Cochran Firm and I called mine The McLeod Group,” he said.
While law kept him busy, McLeod made a point of giving back to the community. He worked with Ainsworth Morgan in creating youth organizations 100 Strong and Stand Up.
“(100 Strong) helps inner city kids – many of them come from Regent Park – and it works like a summer school where we assess students’ progress and follow up with them through their education,” McLeod said. “We’ll do things like taking the kids on a field trip to the Rogers Centre to go see the Blue Jays, but then they’ll also go to the back offices to see how the team is run.”
While 100 Strong is geared toward African-Canadian boys, Stand Up is open to all boys in Grades 7 and 8. That initiative sees the students brought to George Brown College for a day to pair up with a group of black mentors.
“The mentors tell them how their jobs work,” McLeod said. “The students get to see what goes into those jobs and they can create their own networks through us.”
Prior to his appointment to the Ontario Court of Justice last fall, McLeod also ran Black Robes, a mentorship program for other lawyers.
These days, the midtown Toronto area resident adjudicates out of the Brampton Court, dealing with a full case load.
“It’s an interesting perspective, sitting there as a judge,” he said. “I realize the utility of sitting in the seat I’m sitting in, but it’s also an awesome responsibility.”
For his work, McLeod was awarded the Honourable Lincoln Alexander ’53 Award by the Black Law Students’ Association at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
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