An Interview with Theresa Donkor

“You have every right to be where you are so don’t undermine that.

Theresa Donkor is an associate at Rudnicki & Company. She practices criminal defense, with a focus on appeals from conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Donkor graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2018.

Choosing Litigation and Criminal Defense

Prior to entering criminal defense, Donkor started her legal career in transactional practice. She worked as an articling student, and later an associate, at Osler, Hoskin, and Harcourt LLP in Toronto, where her practice primarily focused on corporate matters. While she found her time at Osler to be a great learning experience, Donkor wanted a career change to cultivate a practice where she could devote more time and attention to social justice causes. After three years in corporate law, she made the jump to criminal defense.

“I was a first-generation lawyer, and I didn’t know any lawyers or had any in my family,” Donkor says. “[In law school], I liked criminal and labour, but I didn’t have a solid idea of what kind of law I wanted to do.” After spending her 1L summer at Blue J Legal, she applied broadly during the 2L recruit and joined Osler the following summer. While she enjoyed her time practicing corporate law, Donkor says she wasn’t intentional in law school about going down the less beaten path, referring to criminal law. Donkor reflects, “Summer and articling positions [in criminal law] are hard to come by and not as frequently advertised as the Bay Street route. I didn’t give myself the opportunity to go down that path...but after being a lawyer for a few years, I had the knowledge to make that switch. I was confident in the skills I had.”

Litigation seemed like a natural choice for her next step. “I was always passionate about advocacy and wanted to be a lawyer since I was 10 years old,” she says. In law school, mooting and trial advocacy were some of her favorite experiences. In choosing to switch her practice to criminal defense, Donkor remarks that her rationale was two-fold.“Criminal law is one of the best areas of law to get substantive written and oral advocacy experience, especially early on,” she says. Secondly, and more importantly, Donkor knew that criminal defense work would align her practice with her passion for furthering social justice causes. She says, “As a black woman, I am acutely aware of how wealth and race intersect with opportunities. Being a lawyer equips you with tools and skills that other people aren’t equipped with.” She specifically wanted her work to directly help the communities that she grew up in. She notes, “the reality is that the justice system disproportionately affects people of color. My client base is people of color and people who look like me, but they didn’t [previously] have representation that looked like them.”

Donkor’s current criminal defense practice

“Everyday is different,” Donkor says. As an appeals-focused lawyer, she splits her time between going through trial transcripts, attending court, and writing factums, among many other tasks. What Donkor enjoys most – and perhaps finds toughest about her job – is the human component inherent to the profession. The immense time that criminal defense lawyers spend in conducting legal research and formulating arguments is not abstract, but instead has tangible consequences for the client. Donkor says, “There’s a person behind every case which motivates me to do the best possible work. The stakes are very high.”

Donkor finds that she is highly attuned to her clients’ emotions. While she asserts that it’s critical to set boundaries as a criminal lawyer, the law could benefit from more lawyers who view empathy as being a strength rather than a weakness. “If you are only about the win, it’s hard to care that much,” she reflects. “Regardless of whether or not you think [your client is] guilty, everyone has a story and there’s a reason they operate the way that they do. Some people may disagree but I think the whole justice system could benefit from being more empathetic.”

The impact of remote work on litigation and criminal defense

COVID-19 has had numerous effects on the justice system, but in some ways the shift to remote work has made a litigator’s job easier. Set court dates to resolve administrative matters that were previously held in-person are now held virtually. Donkor remarks, “Articling students or paralegals do those so instead of driving around to ten different courtrooms, they can just go to zoom rooms…it’s more effective procedurally.”

For a criminal defense lawyer, electronic communication has been particularly helpful. Donkor says, “If you have to talk to your client and they're in custody, they can do virtual calls but it’s helpful that you don’t have to drive down to prison to communicate with them.” While virtual communication has improved many aspects of criminal defense and would continue to be beneficial in the future, Donkor still finds that “there’s a magic in a court trial appearance.”

Key skills for law students interested in litigation or criminal defense

For students interested in pursuing litigation, Donkor asserts that it's important to “try and do as many advocacy opportunities, and intensive research and writing classes as possible.” She also highlights the importance of maintaining a strong network. For those keen on social media, interacting with lawyers and legal professionals on Twitter can be a great way to build a network. Students could also reach out to speakers on panels at their law schools or attend networking events. She emphasizes that “once you make the initial connection, you have that connection for a long time even if you don’t talk to them.”

For students interested in criminal defense, Donkor encourages taking a variety of criminal-related classes and co-curriculars. Students should also try to keep up with recent case law in the criminal law field. Donkor suggests reading summaries of the latest Ontario Court of Appeals decisions, which are released weekly.

Students looking to develop skills that will be critical during their criminal law-related summer jobs should improve upon their research and writing abilities as this forms the bulk of a summer student’s job. Although criminal law jobs in 1L and 2L summers are rare, Donkor says that summer students can expect to primarily research case law, write memos, and do due diligence.

When applying to summer or articling positions in criminal law, Donkor emphasizes the importance of fine-tuning cover letters. She says, “Your cover letter is super important because that’s the first piece of writing we see…think about one thing you’ve done so far that shows you’d be a valuable addition to this team.” Additionally, students should try to highlight experiences in their application that demonstrate their interest in criminal law, through co-curricular activities like working at Downtown Legal Services and the Barbara Schieffer Clinic or holding an executive position in the Criminal Law Students Association, among others.

Advice for law students

Donkor feels that there can be a certain pressure in law school to emulate what everyone else is doing. Her advice is to ignore the noise - “Law school had a lot of herd mentality. The best thing is to stay true to yourself.” She highlights that students shouldn’t feel compelled to take classes or do certain extracurriculars just because they think it will look good in job applications. She urges that “It’s more important to take substantive courses that are interesting to you so you get exposure to different areas that you might want to practice. A lot of the legal learning happens on the job, so having exposure to a variety of legal areas is more important than feeling the need to specialize in any specific area.”

She also encourages students to form good habits while in law school, because they can often become the foundation for the habits that form when students join the profession. “Practice of law is a marathon, not a sprint,” she says. “When you lose sight of that, you get burnt out quickly”. Students should also take mental health seriously and try to have a school-life balance. Donkor emphasizes that “being a lawyer is an important part of who you are, but it’s not all of who you are. When you are your best self, you are the best lawyer.”

Donkor also cautions law students and junior lawyers against imposter syndrome. She remarks,“I say that my law school application got stuck to someone else’s application and that’s how I got in. But remember, you got to where you are for a reason. It's not a coincidence. It takes a lot of dedication.” Donkor encourages students to remember that a steep learning curve is inevitable at the start of their legal careers. As her parting words, she says, “You have every right to be where you are so don’t undermine that. In criminal law, when you are taking on a lot earlier on, you question that a lot. [But] if not you, then who?”