Below, we share an overview of special episode of The Family Friendly Podcast examining what’s changing for parents and carers in the legal sector, thanks to our partnership with Family Friendly Workplaces and Parents At Work.
Women have outnumbered men in law schools nationwide for decades, but in 2024, men continue to dominate the legal sector’s leadership positions.
That’s despite the sector seeing significant changes in how legal work is carried out, including remote work, evolving tech and artificial intelligence and the move to outsourcing.
However, some significant changes have occurred in firms adopting more family-friendly policies, such as gender-neutral paid parental leave and more flexible career options. This sector is also one where the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly bolstered the push to remote work.
Back in 2015, one analysis by Melbourne University’s Law School found that more women than men were leaving the industry within five years of starting. It also revealed that the number of women practising as lawyers dropped by around 75 per cent once they reached 35 to 55.
Today, data shows that women make up more than 55 per cent of solicitors in Australia.
A survey by the Australian Financial Review reveals that women make up more than 40 per cent of partnerships at 13 of the biggest law firms in Australia. But at the top 50 firms, just over 35 per cent of the partner cohort are women.
Meanwhile, 34 of the 69 legal workplaces that report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency have a gender pay gap larger than the national average of 21.7 per cent recorded in the 2022-23 period. The College of Law Australian Legal Survey 2024 recently reported a gender pay gap across all levels from graduate to principal/partner. The NSW Annual Profile of Solicitors has also reported a gender pay gap across all age groups and all practice sectors, including those more likely to be dominated by women.
At the bar, challenges remain for women, who are underrepresented across every state and territory in Australia, making up just 23 per cent of barristers in NSW and a tiny 18 per cent in Tasmania. These figures drop below when it comes to identifying the proportion of senior counsel, for example, from 31 per cent of barristers in Victoria to just 20 per cent of SCs.
So, what will make the difference? Many intertwining factors have seen some progress. Ultimately, it comes down to leadership, according to Emma Walsh, founder of Parents at Work and Family Friendly Workplaces.
Especially leadership on culture, a commitment to targets, as well as adopting – and actively demonstrating and supporting – family friendly policies, and cross all things that go into supporting the health and wellbeing of team members and their families.
Women’s Agenda explored how the legal sector is faring for the Family Friendly Workplaces Podcast, in partnership with Parents At Work and Family Friendly Workplaces. Below, we share more on what was covered.
Changes in tech and politics
For Alison Deitz, Chief Executive Partner of law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, flexible leave was a key part of her career journey in the legal sector.
She was one of the first partners in the firm to take parental leave – now almost 20 years ago. She was also one of the first to return while still breastfeeding – and recalls those early days when she spent so much time using a manual pump to express milk during the workday that she suffered RSI in her right hand.
Ever since, she’s seen some dramatic shifts in how we work, including the opportunities that blackberries, and later iPhones, provided for supporting clients outside of the office.
“I didn’t even have an iPhone in those days, but I had a device and I remember that device was a game changer because it allowed me to be out of the office but still in contact,” says Deitz, adding that “technology has been an enabler” and “gamechanger” for flexible work options.
“We’ve also seen more women who work flexibly, taking positions as general counsel, in-house counsel, etc.”, says Deitz.
“It’s very important for our clients to see us being able to work in a flexible way and to promote men and women equally through our leadership pipeline.”
While the legal profession was once a notoriously inflexible space– pushing many talented women out of the industry once they’d started families– much change has been made.
Bringing your whole self to work
This freedom and flexibility is something that Silje Andersen–Cooke, director of the Australian Multiple Birth Association, says she would have valued immensely when she first started out.
When Silje became pregnant for the second time, she’d already taken a break from her career in law. And while she and her partner were trying to have a second baby, it surprised them to find out she was pregnant with triplets.
“It’s a confronting experience, and definitely one of those thoughts is, ‘is this going to torpedo my whole career as well?’,” she says, adding, “I really enjoyed work. I love being a lawyer. It’s such a big part of my identity and who I am as a person.”
Silje has since found a way to juggle four children and her family with a career in law and running a support organisation for parents having multiple births at one time. Her employer, Maddocks, has played an important role in empowering her to follow all her passions while raising kids.
“Most law firms have come a long way in terms of culture,” she says, noting that through her experience, she feels “having a supportive team and manager is critical”.
“It’s so important to acknowledge that being a parent is as valuable a role as your role at work,” says Silje.
“I think when law firms acknowledge that, it makes you feel like you can bring your whole self to work.”
Family Friendly Workplaces
Demographic shifts in the legal sector have changed what people expect from their employers.
Law firms rapidly adopted competitive parental leave options to keep up with the growing numbers of women entering the profession, which – for at least some in the sector – have evolved to ensure all new parents can access such options.
But there have also been shifting expectations around what younger generations expect from firms.
“The younger generation of employees coming through are expecting greater family-friendly provisions than the generation before them, and there still is a competitive war for talent on the best candidates,” says Emma Walsh.
“The reality is we’re having fewer babies. So every year, unless we suddenly have a big migration intake, there are fewer candidates that employers will be able to choose from.”
She says legal workplaces are increasingly becoming more family friendly, but there’s still work to do.
When it comes to remote hybrid work to support employees with caring responsibilities, Walsh says “there has been a lot of gains made from flexible work with COVID, particularly in the legal sector– suddenly there was a court available online.”
And with the introduction of AI to the legal sector, Walsh says this new technology is playing a role in giving flexibility back to workers.
She points out that AI is “proving that [work] can be done more efficiently, giving power back to employees, [and the] ability to have more autonomous decision making around how they use their time and where they spend their time to get that work done.”
“Flexible work is the first greatest lever around being able to drive less work-life conflict for people,” Walsh says.
“The second one is actually about leadership culture and how a leader will allow an individual to avail themselves of family-friendly provisions without that having a negative impact, and we still see that that’s low.”
Check out more on Family Friendly Workplaces here. You can listen to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify, or below.