PRESS / SPEECHES

The Women Lawyers’ Association of New South Wales (WLANSW) congratulates the Law Society on the publication of its progress report on the Advancement of Women project, commenced in December 2011, and on its ongoing commitment to women lawyers.

Not only has the Law Society addressed each of the recommendations formulated in its initial report, but it has now set in place further initiatives to promote the advancement of women within the profession.

Those initiatives include a women’s mentoring program specifically aimed at women admitted between ten and fifteen years, return to work workshops, networking for women practitioners, including those with children and the publication of a resource on flexible working arrangements.

“While more than 50% of law graduates are women, the percentages of women in leadership positions and at the Bar remain relatively low.” noted Margaret Holz, President of WLANSW. “The percentage of women appointed to judicial positions is becoming a matter for concern. For example, only one woman has been appointed to the Supreme Court Bench in the past three years, while sixteen men have been appointed. In the District Court, only four out of seventeen appointments over the past three years have been women.” she said.

“The Law Society’s focus on the advancement of women and particularly its mentoring program to ensure that those practitioners with ten to fifteen years post-admission experience are not lost to the profession is to be applauded. We congratulate the Law Society on the work done thus far and welcome the opportunity to work closely with them in future to ensure that women’s voices continue to be heard, that they are recognised for the valuable work that they do and that they are promoted into positions of influence.” said Holz.

Further information in regard to the project and the report may be viewed on the Law Society’s website.