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The peak body representing lawyers in the ACT is looking at setting up a system specifically for sexual harassment complaints, and giving practitioners someone to confidentially talk to before they decide whether or not to make a report. The ACT Law Society’s new working group, which has so far convened three times, was set up in response to sexual harassment allegations levelled at former High Court judge Dyson Heydon. The claims rattled the Australian legal community; the case coming to a head in June this year when a High Court inquiry found Mr Heydon had sexually harassed six young female judge’s associates. Mr Heydon has emphatically denied the allegations. Among those who accused Mr Heydon were prominent Canberra lawyer and former law society president Noor Blumer, along with the society’s former vice president Elizabeth Lee – now the Canberra Liberals’ leader. The law society’s current president, Elizabeth Carroll, said legal practitioners’ sexual harassment allegations had historically been handled under an umbrella of ethical complaints at the society. But, with the new working group, the idea of a sexual harassment-specific system was pitched. “The legal profession is a place where we really would hope that our members would be free from this kind of unacceptable behaviour and we want to be on the front foot and make sure that we’re addressing that,” Ms Carroll said. “[We know] that this is more likely to happen at younger levels – people starting out in their career. “I think it’s really important that we’re fostering our talent and making sure that we’re supporting [people] when they’re in that more vulnerable stage of their career.” The president said the working group wanted people who were highly trained and knowledgable about sexual harassment manning the system, including people who could talk to practitioners tossing up whether to make a report. The working group was also looking at setting up more widespread prevention training so practitioners were “very clear on what sexual harassment is and what their responsibilities are”, as well as designing guideline and policy templates law firms could adopt. READ MORE: The working group had input into the Law Council of Australia’s National Action Plan to Reduce Sexual Harassment in the Australian Legal Profession, which was published last Wednesday. It called for the creation of an independent body to hear complaints about judges as part of its push to reduce sexual harassment in the legal profession. With AAP
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The peak body representing lawyers in the ACT is looking at setting up a system specifically for sexual harassment complaints, and giving practitioners someone to confidentially talk to before they decide whether or not to make a report.
The ACT Law Society’s new working group, which has so far convened three times, was set up in response to sexual harassment allegations levelled at former High Court judge Dyson Heydon.
The claims rattled the Australian legal community; the case coming to a head in June this year when a High Court inquiry found Mr Heydon had sexually harassed six young female judge’s associates.
Mr Heydon has emphatically denied the allegations.
Among those who accused Mr Heydon were prominent Canberra lawyer and former law society president Noor Blumer, along with the society’s former vice president Elizabeth Lee – now the Canberra Liberals’ leader.
The law society’s current president, Elizabeth Carroll, said legal practitioners’ sexual harassment allegations had historically been handled under an umbrella of ethical complaints at the society.
But, with the new working group, the idea of a sexual harassment-specific system was pitched.
“The legal profession is a place where we really would hope that our members would be free from this kind of unacceptable behaviour and we want to be on the front foot and make sure that we’re addressing that,” Ms Carroll said.
“[We know] that this is more likely to happen at younger levels – people starting out in their career.
“I think it’s really important that we’re fostering our talent and making sure that we’re supporting [people] when they’re in that more vulnerable stage of their career.”
The president said the working group wanted people who were highly trained and knowledgable about sexual harassment manning the system, including people who could talk to practitioners tossing up whether to make a report.
The working group was also looking at setting up more widespread prevention training so practitioners were “very clear on what sexual harassment is and what their responsibilities are”, as well as designing guideline and policy templates law firms could adopt.
The working group had input into the Law Council of Australia’s National Action Plan to Reduce Sexual Harassment in the Australian Legal Profession, which was published last Wednesday.
It called for the creation of an independent body to hear complaints about judges as part of its push to reduce sexual harassment in the legal profession.
Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, who was found by an independent inquiry to have sexually harassed six young female associates during his time on the bench. Picture: Supplied
