Departments and Agencies across the Australian Public Service have been directed to engage more female barristers for their legal cases.
Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer said that Commonwealth entities were already bound by the Legal Services Directions, which encourage the briefing of a broad range of barristers and, in particular women, based on their skill, experience and expertise.
Ms O’Dwyer said in order to continue the efforts, amendments had been made to the Directions to require entities to make all reasonable endeavours to brief or select senior female barristers for at least 25 per cent of their briefs and junior female barristers for at least 30 per cent.
She said the amendments, which were now in force, supported the objectives of the Law Council of Australia’s Equitable Briefing Policy.
“However, to reflect the Government’s strong commitment to briefing more female barristers, we have chosen to adopt a higher target for senior female barristers than the 20 per cent target in the Law Council’s Policy,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
She said it was Government policy to strongly support the progression and retention of female barristers for Commonwealth legal work, as well as across the broader profession.
“In 2016-17, female barristers received 29.6 per cent of all briefs and 26.2 per cent of the value of all briefs for the Commonwealth,” the Minister said.
“The Government is confident that the new targets will put the Commonwealth in a strong position to further increase the briefing of female barristers in future years to ensure a more equitable, diverse and inclusive legal profession in Australia.”
