Victoria Pioneering Gender Equality at the Bar
Monday 25 November 2013 @ 12.04 p.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure
The Victorian Bar intends to triple the percentage of female silks in Victoria with the launch of a new initiative. The program, known as Quantum Leap, aims to increase the number of women throughout all levels of the Bar with specific gender targets and a targeted action plan.
In particular it is aiming to increase the number of female silks in Victoria to 30 percent (currently 9 percent) over the next 10 years. In the same time period it is also seeking to lift the number of female barristers in their first two years at the Bar from the current level of 44 per cent to 50 per cent.
Quantum Leap’s seven-point targeted action plan
Key features of the plan include:
- A ‘Silks Undertaking’ in which senior counsel will publicly pledge a personal commitment to equality, including the recommendation of at least one new woman for a research task or junior brief every year.
- Improved mentoring for women and a reengagement roundtable.
- Collating statistics annually around the percentage of women at the Bar and comparative gross earnings by seniority and areas of practice.
- The incorporation of unconscious bias training and other similar initiatives already in place by large private practice firms into Bar Council induction and the Silk Development program.
Conscious and unconscious actions
In a passionate speech at last month’s Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards, Fiona McLeod SC and chair of the Victorian Bar Council directly addressed the bias in the profession that is unfavourably affecting women at the Bar.
“What is the unconscious bias that is having us choose men as naturally fitted to
the better brief, the promotion, the hot file with the hot client that will take them
somewhere...when we come to this bullshit argument about merit, what does it mean?
What it means is that you have had the hot brief, the hot file and the hot client
over and over, so it is inevitable that you will be given the promotion. So when you
in this room make your decision about who to put forward for the brief, for the file,
for the opportunity day by day, think about that unconscious bias.”
Annual Report
The Launch coincided with the release of the Victorian Legal Services Board and the state’s Legal Services Commissioner 2013 Annual Report.
For the last completed financial year ending 30 June 2013, the report revealed that
men significantly outnumber women at the Victorian Bar.
Just 515 of Victoria’s 1971 practicing barristers are women. Last year, only three
of Victoria’s 15 silk appointments were women.
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