Dr. Fiona M. Kay
B.A.H (Queen's), M.A., Ph.D. (Toronto)
Queen's National Scholar and Associate Professor

Email: kayf@queensu.ca
Office: Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room D-527
Phone: 613 533-6000 ext 74486
Fax: 613-533-2871

Current Academic Interests:

• Stratification and mobility in the legal profession
• Social capital, trust, and economic and social well-being
• Access to justice, pro bono service, and paralegals
• Professional misconduct and discipline proceedings

Teaching Interests: (Courses most often taught)

• S210 Social Research Methods
• S321 Research Methodology
• S389 Gender, Law & Crime
• S457 Law & Social Structure
• S458 Law & Ideology

Biography

Dr. Fiona Kay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. After completing her Bachelor of Arts Honours degree at Queen’s University, Kay moved to the University of Toronto where she completed both her Master’s and Ph.D. in Sociology, finishing in 1992.

Professor Kay taught at the University of British Columbia for the first few years of her career. In 1998/99 she was a visiting professor at le centre de recherche en droit public à la Faculté de Droit, Université de Montréal. In 2000 she came to Queen’s University where she joined the Department of Sociology as a Queen’s National Scholar.

Professor Kay has published extensively on gender and the legal profession, including articles in the American Sociological Review, Law & Society Review, British Journal of Sociology, the International Journal of the Sociology of Law, The International Journal of Law in Context, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, Feminist Legal Studies, Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthropology, Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Inquiry, International Journal of the Legal Profession, Osgoode Hall Law Review, and McGill Law Journal among other academic journals.

Professor Kay has been nominated three times for teaching excellence awards and was featured in MacLean’s magazine as one of Canada’s premier university teachers. In 1999 Fiona Kay was awarded a Killam Research Prize for her comparative research on civil and common law jurisdictions of the legal profession in Canada. She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Empirical and Applied Criminal Justice Research and the Law & Society Review. She served on the Board of the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA) and as Editor of The Bulletin, newsletter of the CLSA. She has refereed articles for 22 different journals and has reviewed grants for SSHRC, the National Science Foundation (US), Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, Canadian Law Admissions Council, and the Law Foundation of Ontario, among other granting agencies. She has consulted to the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and law firms on diversity issues and workplace accommodation policies. Kay is a member of the American Sociological Association, American Law and Society Association, Canadian Law and Society Association, the International Law and Society Association, and the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association. From 2003 to 2005 Kay served as an elected official to the American Sociology Association Sociology of Law Council.

Research Interests

Fiona Kay researches the sociology of law and sociology of work and occupations in three related directions. First, she has published extensively on women and racial/ethnic minorities in the legal profession. Together with John Hagan (Northwestern University and the American Bar Foundation) Fiona Kay published Gender in Practice: A Study of Lawyers’ Lives (Oxford University Press, 1995). She has published articles in a wide array of sociology, law, international, and interdisciplinary journals. Her work has examined several dimensions of diversity and law practice, including: legal education, mentorship and early career stages, work/family balance, glass ceilings and earnings inequities, promotions and law firm partnerships, job exits and lateral mobility, job satisfaction and professional commitment, clientele relations, and comparative work across civil and common law jurisdictions of law practice.

Recently, Professor Kay has also examined social inequality and social capital (community involvement and cohesion). Using data from a national longitudinal survey of Canadians, Kay explores distributional changes, changes in economic conditions such as employment, income and consumption, and social well-being factors such as job satisfaction, and interpersonal trust. One product of this research is the edited volume,
Social Capital, Diversity, and the Welfare State (with Richard Johnston, University of British Columbia, 2006).

Most recently, Professor Kay has initiated three new projects. The first is a longitudinal study of lawyers examining gender and career pathways. A second study focuses on retention of women in the legal profession. A third study explores issues of access to justice with a focus on pro bono (free) legal service among lawyers.

Professor Kay’s research also extends to the sociology of crime, including work on the delinquency, policing and deterrence, crimes within organizations, and sentencing. Her most recent work examines self-regulation among professional organizations.

Recent Publications

Books

Johnston, Richard and Fiona M. Kay. (Editors) 2006. Social Capital, Diversity, and the Welfare State (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press) (368 pages).

Hagan, John and Fiona Kay. 1995. Gender in Practice: A Study of Lawyers’ Lives. New York: Oxford University Press (235 pages).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Kay, Fiona M. and Jean E. Wallace. In Press. 2010. “Is More Truly Merrier?: Mentors and the Practice of Law.” Canadian Review of Sociology 47(1).

Kay, Fiona M. 2009. “Intra-professional Competition and Earnings Inequalities across a Professional Chasm: The Case of the Québec Legal Profession.” Law & Society Review 43(4): 899-934.

Kay, Fiona M. and Jean E. Wallace. 2009. “Mentors as Social Capital: Gender and Career Rewards in Law Practice.” Sociological Inquiry 79(4): 418-452.

Kay, Fiona M. 2009. “‘The First Legal Profession’ of New France in Jeopardy or Revival?: History and Futures of the Quebec Notariat.” International Journal of the Legal Profession 16(1): 1-32.

Wallace, Jean E. and Fiona M. Kay. 2009. “Are Small Firms More Beautiful or is Bigger Better?: A Study of Compensating Differentials and Law Firm Internal Labor Markets” Sociological Quarterly 50: 475-498.

Kay, Fiona M. 2009. “Professional Monopolies and Divisive Practices in Law: ‘Les Femmes Juridiques’ in Civil Law Canada.” The International Journal of Law in Context 4(3): 187-215.

Kay, Fiona M., John Hagan, and Patricia Parker. 2009. “Principals in Practice: The Importance of Mentorship in the Early Stages of Career Development.” Law & Policy 31(1):69-110.

Fiona M. Kay and Elizabeth Gorman. 2008. “Gender in the Legal Profession.” Annual Review of Law and Social Sciences 4: 299-332.

Wallace, Jean E. and Fiona M. Kay. 2008. “The Professionalism of Practising Law: A Comparison Across Work Contexts.” Journal of Organizational Behavior 29: 1021-1047.

Kay, Fiona M. 2007. “The Social Significance of the First Women Lawyers.” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 45(2): 379-424.

Baron, Stephen W., David R. Forde, and Fiona M. Kay. 2007. “Self Control, Risky Lifestyles, and Situation: The Role Of Opportunity And Context In The General Theory.” Journal of Criminal Justice 35: 119-136.

Hagan, John and Fiona M. Kay. 2007. “Even Lawyers Get the Blues: Gender, Depression and Job Satisfaction in Legal Practice.” Law and Society Review 41(1): 51-78.

Kay, Fiona M. 2004. “Professionalism and Exclusionary Practices: Shifting the Terrain of Privilege and Professional Monopoly.” International Journal of the Legal Profession 11(1):3-11.

Kay, Fiona M. and John Hagan. 2003. “Building Trust: Social Capital, Distributive Justice and Loyalty to the Firm.” Law & Social Inquiry 28(2): 483-519.

Kay, Fiona M. 2002. “Crossroads to Innovation and Diversity: The Careers of Women Lawyers in Quebec.” McGill Law Journal 47(4): 699-742.

Refereed - Other

Tindall, D.B., Fiona M. Kay, Dan M. Zuberi, and Kerri Lynn Bates. 2008. “Urban and Community Studies.” In Lester R. Kurtz (Editor), Volume 3 of Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, Volume 3. Oxford: Elsevier, Pp. 2224-2244.

Chapters in Books

Kay, Fiona M., Cristi Masuch, and Paula Curry. 2006. “Growing Diversity and Emergent Change: Gender and Ethnicity in the Legal Profession.” Pp. 203-236 in Elizabeth Sheehy and Sheila McIntyre (Editors). Calling for Change: Women, Law and the Legal Profession (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press).

Kay, Fiona M. and Richard Johnston. 2006. “Ubiquity and Disciplinary Contrasts of Social Capital.” In Richard Johnston and Fiona Kay (Editors). Social Capital, Diversity, and the Welfare State (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006), Pp.18-49

Kay, Fiona M. and Paul Bernard. 2006. “The Dynamics of Social Capital: Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion.” In Richard Johnston and Fiona Kay (Editors). Social Capital, Diversity, and the Welfare State (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2006), Pp. 41-66.

Kay, Fiona M. and John Hagan. 2005. “Social Mobility and Hierarchical Structure in Law Practice.” In William Felstiner (Editor). Reorganization and Resistance: Legal Professions Confront a Changing World (Oxford: Hart Publishing of Oxford), Pp. 281-311.

Research Reports

Hagan, John and Fiona M. Kay. 2007. The Masculine Mystique: Living Large from Law School to Later Life. Report submitted to the Law School Admissions Council (75 pages).

Kay, Fiona M., Cristi Masuch, and Paula Curry. 2004. Contemporary Lawyers: Diversity and Change in Ontario’s Legal Profession. Report submitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada (Toronto: The Law Society of Upper Canada) (157 pages).

Kay, Fiona M., Paula Curry, and Cristi Masuch. 2004. Turning Points and Transitions: A Longitudinal Study of Ontario Lawyers from 1975 to 2002. A Report submitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada (Toronto: The Law Society of Upper Canada) (147 pages).

Kay, Fiona M. 2001. Crossroads to Innovation and Diversity: The Careers of Quebec Lawyers. A report submitted to le Barreau du Québec (Montréal: Barreau du Québec)