Tanya “Toni” De Mello, Assistant Dean for Student Programming, Development and Equity at Canada's newest law school, talks to us about the promise and the future of the profession. We look at how legal employers can adopt lessons learned from her leading role in creating an inclusive and innovative academic community – and her revelatory PhD research into recruitment in the legal sector – in their efforts to cultivate more equitable and diverse workplaces that attract, empower and inspire the best work from up-and-coming leaders in law.