- Published:
- Tuesday 29 October 2024 at 1:34 am
Our work to drive change in equity and diversity in the legal profession is showing results.
For the third year running, we have met our goal for in-house briefing fees going to women counsel, this year achieving our target of 50 per cent.
And while we didn’t meet our target of 40 per cent of panel practitioner briefing fees going to women counsel, we did achieve a 3 per cent increase on the previous year.
Chief Counsel Julia Munster says while this may seem like a small increase, it equates to a million-dollar difference in fees paid to women counsel in 2023–24, compared to 2022–23.
‘Our payments of panel practitioner briefing fees to women counsel has increased from $7.7 million in 2022–23, to $8.9 million in 2023–24,’ said Julia.
‘For in-house briefing fees going to women counsel we achieved a 6 percent increase, which is $470,000 more being paid to women than the previous year.’
Snapshot of our 2023–24 equitable briefing targets and achievements
In the 2023–24 financial year:
- 50 per cent of our in-house briefing fees were paid to women counsel
(target 50 per cent) - total in-house briefing fees paid to women counsel – $2.7 million
- 34 per cent of panel practitioner briefing fees were paid to women counsel
(target 40 per cent) - total panel practitioner briefing fees paid to women counsel – $8.9 million.
(Data source – VLA Data Assist equitable briefing data reports, captured on 15 October 2024. Please note figures have been rounded.)
How we are working to achieve equitable briefing
Our Equitable Briefing Strategy was launched in 2022, to guide fairer briefing practices and create more opportunities for women and diverse groups at the Victorian Bar.
As part of our strategy, we set equitable briefing targets over four years and committed to reporting our progress openly and transparently.
Julia says that our achievements this year highlight how implementing our equitable briefing strategy is working.
‘We are really starting to see the results of our efforts since we launched the strategy in 2022,’ said Julia.
‘Last year we focused on engaging our in-house lawyers and private practitioner partners with our strategy. We met with lawyers in all our offices, the Law Institute of Victoria and regional private practitioner networks, to provide information about the difference in fees paid to men compared to women. We also listened to their experiences, to understand the barriers they faced.
‘Achieving our 50 per cent target for briefing women counsel shows that our efforts are making a difference, particularly in how our in-house lawyers brief.’
Working toward our equity and diversity targets
While we are still behind in meeting the timeframes set out in our strategy for obtaining and analysing briefing data of diverse counsel, we have made progress.
The launch of our Equity and Diversity List earlier this year has been a positive step forward, with more than 70 barristers already signed up.
Julia says the list is now a tool that can be used by both our in-house lawyers and panel practitioners to find counsel to brief.
‘Our briefing principles provide guidance for lawyers to prioritise women counsel and counsel from diverse backgrounds as one of the considerations in selecting counsel to brief.
‘We hope this list helps lawyers find a broader range of counsel to brief.
’The list does not displace technical skill, but where there is a choice of counsel we encourage lawyers to use equitable principles in briefing decisions.
In 2024–25 we hope to include diversity of briefed counsel in our reporting data. From this baseline, we will then develop and implement targets for briefing diverse counsel.’
Internal briefing data reported to the Law Council of Australia
As a signatory to the Law Council of Australia’s equitable briefing policy, we also report our annual briefing data to the council.
In 2023–24:
- 219 barristers briefed by our in-house lawyers were women
- total fees paid to women barristers $2.7 million
- 249 barristers briefed by our in-house lawyers were men
- total fees paid to men barristers $2.6 million.
(Data source: VLA equitable briefing data reported to the Law Council of Australia, 20 September 2024. Please note figures have been rounded.)
‘While this data shows our in-house lawyers briefed more men than women, women counsel were paid $68,000 more in briefing fees than men,’ says Julia.
‘Given the large numbers of women barristers available for legally aided work, this data is a strong step forward.
‘We hope to see these trends continue and increase the numbers of briefs and fees paid to women and diverse counsel by our in-house lawyers and panel practitioners in future years.’
More information
Learn more about our Equity and Diversity List.
Read our Equitable Briefing Strategy.
Review our 2022–23 equitable briefing results.
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