Alumni Profile: Tanya Walker ’02
DeGroote School of Business
Tanya graduated from McMaster University in 2002 with an Honours Commerce degree, minoring in Economics. She then attended Osgoode Hall Law School, where she graduated in 2005 and was called to the bar in 2006. She is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a specialist in civil litigation. After Tanya spent four years practising at two different firms on Bay Street, Tanya opened her own law firm, Walker Law Professional Corporation (“Walker Law”), originally on Bay Street in 2010. Walker Law employs seven full-time employees, including lawyers and paralegals in the area of commercial litigation.
There have been many highlights throughout Tanya’s career so far. The main highlight was opening Walker Law Professional Corporation, which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The firm originally opened on Bay Street after she spent four years practising on Bay Street. Tanya says that “the tools I acquired when I pursued my business degree greatly assisted me with managing a law firm. I opened the firm with a part-time assistant and now we have seven employees, with an eighth to join in two months.” She was also a member of the McMaster Alumni Board, which she feels was a highlight as she had the opportunity to contribute back to the school. Then, on August 9, 2016, Tanya was sworn in by the Law Society of Ontario to be a first black elected female bencher from Toronto in the now 222-year history of the Law Society. There are 40 lawyer Benchers are elected every four years by lawyers that create rules to regulate over 50,000 lawyers and paralegals in the province. She was re-elected last year.
She is very proud and honoured to have received many awards over the years, including the McMaster Arch Award in 2017. A year later, Tanya was the recipient of the Lexpert (owned by Thomson Reuters) Rising Star Award, Minority Business Enterprise Award and We Connect International Women’s Business Enterprise of the Year Award. In 2019 Tanya was the recipient of the Osgoode Hall Law School Gold Key award. Tanya appears regularly on national television stations such as CityTV, CityNews, CBC and CTV as a legal analyst.
While Tanya was exploring different options for universities, the highly reputable business program at the DeGroote School of Business was the main reason she decided to apply to McMaster. “I knew that if I was fortunate enough to be selected to attend McMaster, being an Alumni would open doors for me to build valuable relationships, while also helping me gain the skills I would need to establish a successful career as a lawyer.” Her parents raised her to be very academically driven, so she applied to McMaster with the thought in mind that it would challenge and teach her to drive success at an early age. “I also chose McMaster because it was far enough from my parents that I could begin to establish my independence by living away from home, but also close enough to come home on the weekends if I was ever homesick. My parents lived and still live in Ajax so it was a quick commute home if it was ever needed.”
One of the greatest challenges Tanya faced during her years at McMaster University was learning time management. Pursuing a business degree while minoring in economics, wanting to maintain a very high-grade point average to increase the chance of being accepted into law school, all while being involved in several extra-curricular activities, and working at the CFMU radio station where her role was to market the station, proved to be challenging. She has always valued her relationships with others, so Tanya found it very important to make time to spend with her friends, family, and build relationships with her professors.
“I am grateful that I faced this challenge at McMaster. Learning to effectively manage my time has been an essential skill that has carried over into my professional life, between managing my law firm, spending quality time with my family, and continuing to network and build relationships”, reflects Tanya.
From a very young age, it has always been Tanya’s ambition to become a lawyer so that she could help people. She truly believes that her drive and motivation to help others has led her to where she is today. Tanya would like to be remembered and known for aspiring change and promoting equality. “My parents raised me to always believe in myself and that I had the ability to accomplish anything I wanted to. I think it is a very important message that people should have the confidence and courage to believe in themselves, despite what others might think.”
She puts this into practice by contributing to the Osgoode Community through the Walker Law prize, which is a monetary bursary provided annually to the individual that obtains the highest academic standing in the Advanced Commercial Litigation Workshop. Further, an associate and articling student who are Osgoode graduates are employed with Walker Law.
The best advice that Tanya can give to the current students at McMaster is to work hard and try to balance the hard work with building relationships face to face. Social media was virtually non-existent when she attended McMaster, which she mentions she is grateful for, because she may not have spent as much time getting to know her peers and professors directly.
“The relationships that I built at McMaster are some of my most valued friendships today. University is a unique experience and your time there is something that you can never get back. So, really appreciate your time there, get involved in extracurriculars to find out what you really enjoy, and gain time management skills to balance your school, work, and friendships.”
