The NSW Law Society is facing backlash after it included an advertisement in its bulletin for a new book from Dyson Heydon, the former High Court judge found to have sexually harassed six women.
Five years ago, the NSW Society condemned Heydon’s misconduct, but in its 3 March edition of the Monday Briefs, the group advertised his new book, Heydon on Contract: Particular Contracts.
The bulletin was available to members only, but Lawyers Weekly has reported it heard allegations the Law Society allowed Heydon to have “free access” to its library on Phillip Street, Sydney for “several months”.
A spokesperson for the Law Society told Lawyers Weekly that the advertisement for Heydon’s book went through their “usual approval processes”, but that they will conduct a “review” of their “internal processes” moving forward.
The advertisement directs people to buy Heydon’s book for $250 from bookseller Abbey’s. It is published by Sumner Publications, a company registered under Heydon’s name.
In June 2020, an independent inquiry found Heydon sexually harassed six young women as they worked as judge’s associates in the High Court of Australia.
In February 2022, three of the women secured a historic compensation payout. Their lawyer, Josh Bornstein, said at the time that he believed it was the first settlement under the Sex Discrimination Act for findings of sexual harassment against a serving federal judge.
The High Court apologised publicly to the women in 2020, after an independent investigation upheld their allegations.
Handing down the 2022 findings, Chief Justice Susan Kiefel said in a statement: “We’re ashamed this could have happened at the High Court of Australia”.
“The High Court was advised last year of allegations of sexual harassment against a former Justice and we immediately acted to commission an independent investigation,” said Chief Justice Kiefel. “We have made a sincere apology to the six women whose complaints were borne out. We know it would have been difficult to come forward. Their accounts of their experiences at the time have been believed.”
In a recent article published by the Sydney Morning Herald, Gabrielle Appleby, a professor at UNSW Law & Justice, raised the question that many are asking: has the Australian legal profession really reckoned with the legacy of Dyson Heydon?
“The legal profession can’t decry the conduct but not wrestle with this intellectual and precedential legacy,” writes Appleby.
“It is a kick in the guts for the women he was found to have harassed, for all women, and for those who wish to see a safe and inclusive legal system.”