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The Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession

About the project

Despite the obvious success of women in all sectors of legal practice there is wide recognition that barriers or impediments to the advancement of women in the profession continue to exist.

The number of women solicitors practising in NSW has grown by 452% since 1988, and women now make up 46% of the profession. However, despite this rapid equalisation in the male to female ratio, change has been slower to reach the ranks of partners and principals.

In late 2010, the Law Society Council decided that identifying those barriers should become the focus of the Law Society's major thought leadership initiative for 2011.  This project was championed by the 2011 President, Stuart Westgarth.

The report and recommendations

The report and recommendations arising from this project were officially released at a breakfast on Thursday 1 December 2011.  The report is available to be viewed online. 

Other documents

This project gained momentum due to statistics available on women in the legal profession since 1988. 

Also available are key themes we explored as part of this project.

Other organisations are undertaking similar projects both in Australia and internationally.  In particular, we would like to draw attention to the Equitable Briefing Policy prepared by The Law Council of Australia.

Events related to this project

Over the course of 2011, 18 events took place in relation to this project.

A crucial element of this project was to speak with Law Society members - both male and female - about their views and experiences.  To achieve an in-depth understanding of the issues and possible solutions, the Law Society spoke to members from all segments of practice and from across the state.  In total, the Law Society held 12 roundtable discussions over three months with members of the profession in Newcastle, Armidale, Wollongong, Parramatta, Cronulla, North Sydney and the CBD.  We heard the views of close to 100 members.

The remaining six events consisted of four panel sessions, the Launch Breakfast for the project and the release of the final report and recommendations

Panel sessions

Dr John Ballard, Andrea Culligan, Kate Eastman, Lisa Gazis, Belinda Gibson and Philippa Stone shared their stories and experiences with us as part of the panels held during July. 

A further two panel sessions, with guest speakers Reshma Bargon, Fiona Bustos-McNeil, Cara Ghassemian, Polly Harding, Jillian Khoo, Dimity McCredie, Prue Milne and Victoria Poole were held in early November.  Thanks to Corrs Chambers Westgarth and the Fair Work Ombudsman for helping to make these events a success.

Project Launch Breakfast

One hundred members joined us for the Project Launch Breakfast on Friday 29 July 2011.  We were honoured to have the Hon Justice Julie Ward of the NSW Supreme Court share her personal story and her observations on the advancement of women in the legal profession.  Justice Ward's speech was both entertaining and inspiring and we are fortunate that her Honour has consented for her speech to be available here for our members to read.

Stuart Westgarth's speech formally launching the project is also available for viewing.

Release of the Report and Recommendations

To conclude the 2011 Thought Leadership series on the Advancement of Women in the Profession, on Thursday 1 December 2011 Stuart hosted a breakfast to release the project report and recommendations.  Stuart provided an overview of the report to the 130 attendees and his speech is available for perusal. 

Sharon Cook, Managing Partner of Henry Davis York and a participant in the project delivered the keynote address and Sharon has kindly provided her speech for members to read. Sharon's comments were both practical and thought provoking, encouraging the profession to look for opportunities to effect change.

We were delighted to welcome back The Hon Justice Julie Ward to officially endorse and release the report and recommendations. 

The Advancement of Women project in the media

Carson Scott of Sky News' Law TV spoke to Stuart Westgarth about the project on Wednesday 27 July 2011.  Download the broadcast by selecting 'download files to my computer' (this may take a few minutes).

Justice Ward was also interviewed by Law TV following her speech at the Launch Breakfast.  This segment went to air on Wednesday 3 August 2011 (again, select 'download files to my computer').

This project has received print coverage in Lawyers Weekly Online and Legal Business Online.