Legal bodies have urged the Victorian Bar to take appropriate action against the perpetrators
A fake notice supposedly released by the Victorian Bar lampooned the women in law awards by advertising the “Men in Law Awards” in an Owen Dixon Chambers East lift.
As reported by The Australian, the notice said that the “Men’s Bar Association” would be hosting the mock awards, which called for nominations for “Most Woke Counsel,” “Best Virtue-signalling Counsel,” “Least Offensive Counsel,” “Counsel with the Best Virtue Signalling ‘Signature’ Statement,” “Best Beard Worn by Counsel Under 5 Years Call” and “Best Beard Worn by Counsel Over 15 Years Call.”
“The Men in Law Awards, in conjunction with various stakeholders and a panel of leading pseudo professionals, have developed a robust awards methodology to form the backbone for assessing, analysing and benchmarking Victoria’s leading legal professionals. Sadly this expertise will not be called upon in judging such nominations,” the notice said.
On Wednesday, the Victorian Bar Association confirmed in a statement published by The Australian that the notice was “unauthorised” and that it had been removed.
The notice incurred backlash from a number of legal bodies, including the Women Barristers Association (WBA), Australian Women Lawyers (AWL) and Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA). The organisations described the behaviour as “discriminatory” and “unacceptable.”
AWL President Astrid Haban-Beer told Australasian Lawyer that this type of incident “represents a section or an element of some sexism that still remains, particularly in barristers chambers.”
“I think that the bar is a section of the legal profession that has not caught up to the extent that, say, law firms have, because law firms have the benefit of policies, they have the benefit of HR, administrative processes. Whereas at the independent bar, we’re a college of independent colleagues, so that has some structural effects on why some of these views still linger,” she said.
Haban-Beer added that while such behaviour was not emblematic of the general culture today, “it is still really disappointing that we have to contend with this kind of chauvinistic, sexist attitude with our colleagues.”
The WBA said in a statement published by The Australian, that the notice was “a reminder that while the Bar has taken great strides towards equality and inclusion, challenges remain.” ALA National President Shaun Marcus added that the notice served as “a sobering reminder that equality and inclusion in the legal profession still has a long way to go.”
The legal bodies called for the Victorian Bar to take action and emphasised the need to call out such conduct in the profession.
“I think that it really is important to challenge unacceptable behaviour when we see it. I think that there is an inclination sometimes for people to say, ‘well, we should just ignore it – it isn’t representative of the whole culture, so just walk past’. But I think you can’t; if the women lawyers of Australia aren’t calling it out, then that’s problematic in itself,” Haban-Beer told Australasian Lawyer.
She explained that those who are joining the bar need to know that it welcomes women, gender-diverse people and First Nations people, and that sexist incidents “aren’t tolerated by the broader profession.”
“I think that if the perpetrator or perpetrators are found, there should be appropriate action taken. That can include referral to the Legal Services Commissioner, it can include counselling, it can include education,” Haban-Beer said. “Those kinds of things help change the dial on how we deal with these matters. It’s not just through condemnation, but it’s through actual consequences. And I think it should be known that there are appropriate consequences and actions that can occur as a result of undertaking this really offensive behaviour.”
Marcus added that the “senior people in law” must “keep calling out this type of bad behaviour when they see it.”
“It can no longer be overlooked or ‘swept under the carpet’,” he said.
The Australasian reported that in August 2022, a notice about a mock “LGBTQMS” Victorian Bar committee was also discovered in an Owen Dixon Chambers East lift, which promoted the Victorian Bar Council to conduct an investigation.
