The Law Society of Western Australia promotes gender diversity, equality, respect and inclusion. We work to retain women in the legal profession and to increase the proportion of female leaders within the profession.
To ensure that the important issue of gender diversity continues to be tackled at the national level as well as in Western Australia, we work with the Law Council of Australia.
The Law Society has endorsed the Law Council of Australia ‘National Model Gender Equitable Briefing Policy’. The Law Society’s ‘Equality of Opportunity Model Briefing Policy’ is supplementary to the Law Council policy on matters that are not gender-based.
Flexible Work Protocols
The Law Society is committed to encouraging successful flexible workplace protocols amongst law practices.
In 2011, with the approval of Victorian Women Lawyers (VWL), the Law Society had adopted the VWL’s Flexible Work Proposal/Business Case and Individual Flexible Work Plan as the Law Society’s Flexible Work Protocols.
On 22 September 2015 the Law Society of Western Australia resolved to adopt the VWL’s 2015 Flexible Work Protocols: A best practice guide for productive and engaged legal workplaces (2015 Flexible Work Protocols).
The VWL’s 2015 Flexible Work Protocols was launched on 13 April 2015. In a media release, Ms Kirsten Adams, VWL Convenor, said the most recent impetus for the development of the 2015 Flexible Work Protocols was the 2014 report of the Law Council of Australia’s National Attrition and Re-engagement Study which examined the experience of about 4,000 women lawyers nationally.
The Law Society acknowledges the outstanding work of the VWL in the preparation of the 2015 Flexible Work Protocols and thanks the VWL for permission to adopt them as the Law Society’s Flexible Work Protocols.
It is acknowledged by the Law Society that the 2015 Flexible Work Protocols may not be suitable for every law practice. However, members are encouraged to either follow or adapt this very useful tool, as applicable.
RESOURCES
- How to make your workplace LGBTI+ friendly
- Flexible workplaces in the legal profession
- Bullying and harassment in the workplace
- Closing the Gender Pay Gap Report (2017)
- Final Directions Paper: Law Society’s response to Women Lawyers of Western Australia’s 20th Anniversary Review of 1994 Chief Justice’s Gender Bias Taskforce Review
- National Attrition and Re-engagement Study (NARS) Report – Law Council of Australia
- Reference guide 2017 – Guide to reporting under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, Workplace Gender Equality Agency
Relevant Brief articles