The Law Council of Australia has just published its Equitable Briefing Policy Annual Report for the 2017-2018 Financial Year. The report shows that female barristers are starting to receive more briefs and are more often recommended for work by their colleagues in new or current matters, however, they still lag behind male colleagues when it comes…
A wave of violence against lawyers is crippling the Philippines’ justice system
The slaying earlier this month of a prominent human rights lawyer in the Philippines who worked on behalf of poor suspects accused of drug-related crimes has sparked a renewed outcry over President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs. The lawyer, Benjamin Ramos, was gunned down by two unidentified assailants on Nov. 6—the 34th lawyer to be…
Education and Training in Ireland
In response to the report on Education and Training in Ireland published on 19 November by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA), the Law Society of Ireland has launched the Peart Commission Report, developed by an expert group chaired by Mr Justice Michael Peart of the Court of Appeal. The report contains 30 recommendations setting out…
The Legal Profession in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Since the 1979 Revolution, the clerical regime in Iran has been limiting the legal profession’s autonomy by preventing members of the Iranian Bar Association (IBA) from freely electing their Board of Directors and by establishing a new body of lawyers — legal advisors of the judiciary — to contest the IBA’s professional monopoly. Clerics have…
Solicitors Regulation Authority publishes research on trainee salaries
The SRA has released a new impact assessment looking at the deregulation of the prescribed SRA minimum salary for trainees. In 2014, the SRA removed the minimum salary levels for trainee solicitors. The previous levels of prescribed salary were replaced with a requirement for trainees to be paid at least the national minimum or living wage,…
Women at the Bar: exploring ways to promote gender equality
Following on from the Bar Standards Board 2016 ‘Women at the Bar’ survey report, the BSB has now published a second 2018 report aimed to explore and develop potential solutions to address two of the key issues identified by the 2016 research, namely: Unfair treatment (issues around policies and practice in work allocation, flexible working, and…
IBA Report: Women in Commercial Legal Practice
Executive summary The term ‘feminisation of the legal profession’ is often used to describe changes in the legal profession. This is both a misnomer and misleading. Although women generally outnumber men in law schools, and have done so for a decade or more, men still outnumber women in senior positions in law firms. Indeed, women’s…
Event: Diversity and inclusion in the legal profession – widening access, improving workplace culture and assessing new regulatory priorities
8 March 2018|Central London This seminar will focus on the challenges and opportunities for law firms, regulators and wider stakeholders for improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. Delegates will consider what more can be done to improve access to legal professions for candidates from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, looking at the role of the…
Unlocking the benefits of diversity
Research undertaken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (England and Wales) aims to shed light on what is being done, and what can be done, to improve the representation of female and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) solicitors in senior roles such as partners or directors. The aim of the research was to understand what…
The Women and Men of Harvard Law School: Preliminary Results from the HLS Career Study
The Preliminary Report presents the results of the Harvard Law School Career Study (HLSCS), conducted by the school’s Center on the Legal Profession (CLP). Begun with a generous grant from a group of women alumnae in connection with the 55th celebration of the graduation of the school’s first female students in 1953, the study seeks…