Improving equity in the way we brief counsel

‘Women speaking up and making noise has been described as rage. This rage must be taken seriously to ensure women do not remain on the fringe of professions or continue to be diminished or languished.’

That was a message from Justice Rita Incerti at our International Women’s Day event, yesterday afternoon.

More than 200 people joined the online event, where Justice Incerti spoke about the need for tangible change.

Her Honour described the series of photographic portraits of Justices’ past and present hung in the corridors of the private Chambers at the Supreme Court of Victoria.

‘It is tradition when you are appointed to the Supreme Court that your photograph is hung up in the corridor with the date of your appointment and in due course the date of either your death or retirement – whichever comes first,’ Justice Incerti said.

‘The very first photograph is of Justice Redmond Barry who was appointed in 1852 and retired in 1880. From the first photograph taken in 1852 there are 88 photographs traversing 142 years before a photograph of a woman appears, Justice Rosemary Balmford in 1996.

‘Three more women were appointed in 1997, 1998 and 1999 including the former Chief Justice, The Hon Marilyn Warren – also the first of only two female Chief Justices in 170 years.

‘It is not until 2009, a decade later, that you can constantly see photographs of more woman hanging up in the corridors.

‘It is really no coincidence that this coincided with government policy of equitable gender judicial appointments.’

Her honour said change has begun in the legal profession and the courts but it must continue.

‘Not only does it need to continue for women, but it needs to continue for women of diverse cultural backgrounds and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.’

International Women’s Day at Victoria Legal Aid is about celebrating and elevating women while also being transparent about how we are pursuing equality.

Promoting fairer briefing practices

Our acting Chief Executive Officer Rowan McRae formally launched our new Equitable Briefing Strategy at our International Women’s Day event.

Our Chief Counsel at Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) Chambers Julia Munster said it was fitting the strategy was launched on International Women’s Day.

‘The theme for International Women’s Day is Break the Bias and our Equitable Briefing Strategy is an attempt to break the bias against counsel from diverse backgrounds,’ Julia said.

The Strategy sets measurable annual targets to improve the number of women and counsel from diverse backgrounds we brief, both for in-house matters and via private practitioners.

It is an acknowledgement that as a leader in the legal sector and also one of the largest briefers in the state, we have a responsibility to drive change.

A look at our own data shows we have room to improve.

We brief women in less than one third of all VLA funded matters, decreasing to about a quarter in criminal law, where men are three times more likely to be briefed.

While we lack sufficient data on barristers who identify as culturally or linguistically diverse or living with disability, we know anecdotally that they find it not only harder to enter the Bar, but also to stay there.

The Equitable Briefing Strategy commits us and our partners to abide by a set of briefing considerations and management oversight, ensuring we all make consistent, structured and equitable briefing choices.

Julia said under the strategy, we will apply equitable briefing principles when we engage for services.

‘Leveraging equality by making it part of doing business with VLA,’ Julia said.

‘We will promote diversity by creating training and development opportunities for counsel from diverse backgrounds, and opportunities for counsel to raise their profile with VLA.

‘We will be vocal and visible on our position when we engage with the public. And we commit to obtaining good data and open transparent reporting.’

By the end of this year, we want at least 30 per cent of all in-house briefs / briefing fees going to women counsel (junior and senior). We are committed to obtaining and analysing briefing data of diversity of counsel by the end of 2022.

By the end of 2023, the target increases to 40 per cent in-house and a 30 per cent target for all private practitioner briefs / briefing fees for women counsel (junior and senior) is introduced.

‘We will maintain an open dialogue with our practice partners as we review our processes to ensure the strategy stays on target,’ Julia said.

‘By 2025, we commit to reaching at least 50 per cent of all VLA funded briefs / briefing fees going to women counsel (junior and senior) and to increase the 2024 targets for diversity of counsel.

‘This is essential work to ensure we improve diversity within the legal sector which will not only allow us to better reflect the Victorian community but connect more meaningfully with our diverse client base.’

Watch our International Women’s Day event with keynote speaker Justice Rita Incerti

During the event, Julia Munster facilitated a panel discussion with Sheeana Dhanji, a Civil Justice Public Defender in VLA Chambers, Daye Gang a Barrister and Ph. D student and Veronica Sayers our Acting Gippsland Regional Manager.

The panel shared their experiences of working in the legal sector and the barriers and challenges they and their colleagues have faced.

Sheeana asked everyone to make one small change: ‘What I would ask people to do, is make one small change. Take for instance the Equitable Briefing Strategy which we are launching today. I think it is a great initiative by the organisation to embrace something that is clearly long overdue and the first step in what I hope will be more to come. But I encourage everyone to really embrace it and think about who they brief. It may mean taking a bit of extra time to find somebody to brief, who you wouldn’t normally brief. It may mean making extra phone calls to clerks. It may mean asking your colleagues who else you could consider. But if you could make one small change and if everyone watching this, whether it is now or in the future, could make one small change towards being inclusive towards their colleagues within and beyond the profession, and do that in a kind and respectful way, I think that change could be momentous and set us on a pathway towards the type of profession we would like to see.’

Daye said we need to be aware of class differences and encouraged everyone to try to embrace making uncomfortable choices: ‘This is where we need to learn to be a little bit uncomfortable with our choices in hiring, in briefing and in working with other people. Because if you go for the people who you feel most naturally comfortable with, you are probably entrenching inequity.’

Veronica said we need to challenge everyone on their unconscious bias. She reminded us of the barriers faced by women and girls in regional areas in accessing legal services and in entering the legal profession. She also identified opportunities to support women and girls outside of the workforce. Speaking about her involvement in the Girls Guides movement, Veronica said: ‘Being part of the Girl Guides movement is wonderful because it gives you the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of girls in regions and show them that they are strong, and they can achieve anything that they want to achieve.’

More information

Download and read more about our Equitable Briefing Strategy.

Media enquiry

If you have a media enquiry about the Equitable Briefing Strategy, please contact Senior Communications Advisor Crys Ja on (03) 9280 3858 or 0457 483 780, or via Crys.Ja@vla.vic.gov.au