"Anything to do with the profession is a matter of personal interest to me," she says
Dame Silvia Cartwright vows that she will oversee a straight-shooting review of the legal profession’s regulatory framework.
“The group is looking at the Law Society’s own regulations, therefore it will be a narrow inquiry in that sense as it looks at the process the Law Society has set up to ensure that it is widely understood, that it is clear, and palpably includes issues such as sexual harassment. Bullying is also one of my concerns and could equally be covered by the review,” she told the Law Society’s Nick Butcher.
The working group, whose members were announced by the Law Society earlier this month, is looking into whether the profession’s regulatory framework, practices and processes:
- enable adequate reporting of harassment or inappropriate workplace behaviour;
- provide adequate support for those affected by harassment or inappropriate workplace behaviour; and
- enable effective action to be taken where such conduct is alleged.
“If we find the regulatory framework is not sufficiently transparent for people to bring their concerns to the Law Society in the same way as it is if someone has taken money from a partners account for example, then that will be said,” Dame Cartwright said.
She also said that the investigation is personally important to her.
“Anything to do with the profession is a matter of personal interest to me. I don’t know too many women who haven’t suffered from some form of harassment or bullying in the profession and generally in society. It’s a subject that women generally felt they couldn’t talk about and just had to put up with. But now women are starting to talk about it, which might mean society will have to change course. I certainly hope so,” she said.
Dame Cartwright was the second woman to be appointed as a District Court judge in 1981, when she ceased practising as a lawyer. She became New Zealand’s District Court chief judge in 1989, the same year she was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire. In 1993, she became the first woman to be appointed to the High Court.
Throughout her career, she has handled war-crime cases and several high-profile inquiries, including on the treatment of cervical cancer and related matters at the National Women’s Hospital.
Dame Cartwright also served as Governor-General from 2001 to 2006. She then became one of the 13 international judges on the United Nations tribunal that investigated war crimes in Cambodia.
