Change the Culture – Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment Workshop, Thursday, 18 November 2021

The Australian legal profession came under the spotlight in 2020 for high prevalence rates of sexual harassment which exposed a sub culture of nonreporting, passive bystanding and mistrust around the management of complaints.

Queensland Law Society has developed an Australian first legal industry training resource to deal with the issue of sexual harassment in the profession. The Law Society of Western Australia is now licensed to deliver this training to the profession in WA. Training uses recorded scenes in the workplace using professional actors to aid learning and understanding of this serious issue, challenging what each of us can do to reduce the harm to individuals, organisations and the profession as a result of sexual harassment.

Delivery Format:

This workshop is highly interactive and deals with sensitive content delivered by expert Law Society facilitators. It is structured over 6 chapters incorporating four video resources which address real life stories, ‘the incident’, active bystanding and role modelling, the complaint, diary room, call to action and support services.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of the workshop participants will have the knowledge and understanding of substantive content dealing with:

• what constitutes sexual harassment;
• the statistics and surveys providing data on the incidence, reporting rates and the implications for individuals and the legal profession of sexual harassment;
• how individual behaviours impact workplace culture;
• the predominant traits and culture in legal workplaces that may act as catalysts for harassment and bullying behaviours;
• the role of bystanders in changing culture and the practical application of using the 5Ds in responding as an Active Bystander;
• the role of leadership in modelling positive behaviour in legal workplaces;
• the importance of appropriate sexual harassment and bullying policies and training processes in legal workplaces;
• the options and appropriate responses to manage an incident experienced or observed; and
• the options available for further and ongoing support for those dealing with incidents of sexual harassment or bullying.

The Society is pleased to announce that Margie Tannock and John Poulsen have been contracted to provide our Changing Workplace Culture Workshop in Western Australia and have been trained as specialist facilitators through the Queensland Law Society. Both respected legal professionals, each will bring their experience of the profession to deliver training in an engaging one-and-a-half-hour format.

On being engaged to facilitate this training, both highly respected lawyers had this to say:

“I have long been committed to an inclusive, supportive work environment to encourage the best in the practice of law. Evidence shows us that, in the legal profession, sexual harassment has profound negative impacts on victims, bystanders and workplace culture. I am very pleased to be involved in this important initiative by the Law Society of WA, to deliver better integrity, transparency and accountability in identifying illegal and inappropriate behaviour in law firms” Margie Tannock 

“One of the things I am passionate about is mental wellbeing in the workplace, which to me is all about creating an environment of trust and living values.  Sexual harassment in the workplace is the antithesis of this and one of the biggest contributors to a mentally unhealthy workplace.  I want to help to make a difference and providing training on sexual harassment to the legal profession is one way I can do that”  John Poulsen 

If you would like to participate in this training, please book online at the above link. Places are limited, so please do so as soon as possible.

For general enquiries, please call the membership team on (08) 9324 8692 or email membership@lawsocietywa.asn.au