Equitable Briefing

The NSW Bar Association supports a fair, equitable, dynamic, inclusive and diverse Bar which continues to attract and retain the best male and female talent. One way it does this is by actively promoting the aims of the  National Model Gender Equitable Briefing Policy (Policy), launched by the Law Council of Australia (LCA) in June 2016 and formally adopted by the Bar Association in September 2016. The aims of the Policy are to achieve a nationally consistent approach towards bringing about cultural and attitudinal change within the legal profession with respect to gender briefing practices, so as to maximise choices for legal practitioners and their clients, promote the full use of the independent Bar and optimise opportunities for practice development of all barristers.

The Bar Association’s Diversity and Equality Committee and the Women Barristers Forum have worked together to develop the resources below, as well as a strategic implementation plan for the Bar Association, which Bar Council has adopted and which is available  here . This sets out a road map for implementation, monitoring and review of the Policy by the Bar Association over the next three years.

You can be involved in these endeavours. The Policy is available for adoption by all barristers. By adopting the Policy, you can demonstrate to your colleagues at the Bar and across the wider profession your support for the aims of the Policy and, through those aims, the continued excellence of the Bar. We encourage you to adopt the Policy by sending an email as set out at  the LCA website. The resources outlined below, including the FAQs, provide more information as to how and why to adopt the Policy.

Finally, the Bar Association is a briefing entity under the Policy. In that capacity, having adopted the Policy, it must make all reasonable endeavours to brief or select women barristers with relevant seniority and expertise, experience or interest in relevant practice areas, to collect data in respect of its briefs and to provide a report on the collected data to the LCA each year.

resources

To assist barristers at the NSW Bar in adopting the policy and implementing the policy requirements into their practice, the NSW Bar Association has developed the following resources:

• The Guide to Reporting for Barristers  
• Barrister Worksheet and Report Templates to facilitate the collection and reporting of data  
• Strategic Implementation Plan

Bar Association as a briefing entity

The Bar Association adopted the National Model Equitable Briefing Policy on 1 September 2016. The Bar Association is a briefing entity and is pleased to report that from 1 September 2016 to 30 June 2017 women were selected for 25% of briefs and account for 55% of the value of all brief fees paid. Learn more here.

More information?

You may contact the NSW Bar Association’s Policy Lawyer, Ms Ting Lim, on 02 9229 1739 or by email at  tlim@nswbar.asn.au.

frequently asked questions

What? Why? Who?

• What is the Gender Equitable Briefing Policy?
• Why has the NSW Bar Association adopted the National Gender Equitable Briefing Policy?
• Does the Policy apply to me?

Targets

• What are the targets in the Policy?
• What is the difference between quotas and targets? 
• How will the targets be measured?

Adopting the policy

• What are some reasons to adopt it? 
• I am a junior barrister, should I adopt the Policy?
• How do I adopt the Policy?
• How will people know I have adopted the Policy?
• I have adopted the Policy, what do I need to do now?
• I am a Clerk, how can I help the barristers on my Floor comply with the Policy, once they have adopted it?

Reporting

• How do I collect the data required under the Policy? 
• When do I need to submit my report to the NSW Bar Association?
• What will the NSW Bar Association do with the information in my report?
• Does my report have to be in an approved form?