Sexual harassment and bullying in the legal profession: what more can we do?

I found the recent reports on sexual harassment and bullying in the legal profession shocking and appalling. They have made me – and should make all law firm leaders - stop and think.

I had hoped that things were changing - that we had improved, and that sexual harassment and bullying in our profession and firms was declining. All decent firms are putting policies in place, running workshops, and have procedures for victims to follow. But it seems these things haven’t made enough of an impact. It is a start, but clearly not enough.

Here is the data in brief – from the International Bar Association’s ‘Us Too? Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession’ and The Women’s Legal Service report, ‘Starts With Us’. Bullying and sexual harassment is ‘alarmingly commonplace’ in the legal profession. 47% of women in the legal profession report sexual harassment misconduct, and 73% report having been bullied. Males continue to have disproportionate opportunities to progress in law.

I want this to change. For many reasons. For the countless brilliant women who are in the legal profession now. For our clients and firms, so that we can have the best people servicing our clients better, and helping us to make better decisions.  For students that are studying with dreams to become a lawyer. And for my daughter Elsie -  I want to her to know that should she choose to follow in my footsteps that she can do so in a safe working environment and not face greater challenges than her brothers Joe and Henry simply because she is female. 

I am part of an Advocates of Change group, chaired by Victorian Court of Appeal President Justice Chris Maxwell. We recently met to discuss these reports and consider why sexual harassment and bullying occurs, how we can prevent it; and how existing complaint mechanisms can be improved. It was encouraging to be discussing this issue with a cross section of my peers from other firms, to see what we can do as leaders.

Of the many things we discussed, I took away a number of priorities:

It starts at the top. Leaders – especially those in a CEO/MP or similar role like me – need to own this in a visible, strong, consistent and supportive way.

Disrespect (especially towards women), including objectifying and demeaning behavior, cannot be tolerated. People who are disrespectful should have no future in our firms. We should not shy away from conversations about sexual harassment and bullying in our firms and in the profession - including with the high billing rainmakers. 

Where it exists, we need to eliminate the boy’s club culture. While this may be unconscious and unintended, I think that it can be pervasive and often normalised. This includes social and business activities (at and outside of work) that have an obvious bias towards men – routine all male lunches, team building activities, client networking and lots of other things. All of us need to stop and ask ourselves the question of whether what we are doing is perpetuating a gender bias. 

We need to ensure that we have victim-focused complaints and response processes. This includes having a cross section of people in complaints officer and listening roles – not just HR/P&C and/or partners.

We should mandate bystander training – especially for senior people – to empower the calling out of poor behavior.

We need to eliminate biases against those with child caring and other responsibilities. At our firm we are making progress in better supporting women with responsibility for child caring, as well as encouraging males (including male partners) to take parental leave and work flexibly. I have always felt that leaders have to be present, and took some time to be convinced that flexible working can work for a law firm CEO. I now have a formal flexible working arrangement in place.  I am benefiting, the firm is benefiting and, importantly, my family are benefiting.

I continue to learn and am committed to help lead this change.