Working for the Department of Justice comes with big responsibilities when you are advocating on behalf of the government, says Sukhi Sidhu,'02, LLB.
"You're constantly upholding the rule of law. You're constantly placed to a different standard," she says. "If there are areas of the law that have not been fully explained, you explain it!"
Yet for Sidhu, who is a featured speaker at the 2020 Women in Law Speaker Series, there was never any doubt that public service was where she wanted to be, and she has dedicated her career to that passion for upholding the rule of law. She has always been interested in the bigger questions that affect Canadians. "It is a real privilege to be working in public service."
Sidhu's career at the Department of Justice started when she worked as a summer student after her second year of law school. After graduation, she served as a litigation lawyer in the Aboriginal Law section until 2015 when she became deputy director.
Sidhu has established herself as a leader, currently serving as the regional director of the department's Regulatory and Public Safety division. In this management role, she covers a large portfolio in a division that works on everything from basic Tort Law to Constitutional Law, Human Rights Law to labour disputes. She also supervises a team of legal professionals including senior counsel, general counsel and paralegals.
Management was a change of pace from the complex litigation and procedural motions of her early career, but Sidhu was up for the challenge. She completed a master's in Public Administration in 2013 - a degree she started while working full time and completed while on maternity leave. It was no easy feat, says Sidhu, who is now a mother of two.
Sidhu has also demonstrated her commitment to exceptional student experience and professional development as lead of the Prairie Region articling program. The articling program sets up students for success as new lawyers who stay on with the department in a cross-portfolio practice in Civil, Indigenous, and Tax litigation. This cross-portfolio practice allows the next generation of counsel to develop critical skills for litigation, including oral and written advocacy, file management, and working with legal assistants and paralegals. The program is both intense and rewarding, she says.
Sidhu returns to the Faculty of Law on Tuesday, February 11, as a featured guest for the final speaking engagement of the 2020 Women in Law Speaker Series. Her topic is "What would I tell my 1L self?" to which she jokingly responds, "You really don't know anything!"
She wants students to know that they do not have to decide their legal future now and that they should enjoy the process of learning and exploring different areas of law.