The Chief Justice of South Australia, The Honourable Chris Kourakis, has convened a meeting to address the issue of bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession.

The Chief Justice, as head of the South Australian legal profession, has said that he recognises the need to demonstrate the same kind of leadership shown by The Hon Susan Kiefel AC, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, in response to allegations of sexual harassment against one of the High Court’s former members.

To that end, The Honourable Justice Trish Kelly, Acting Chief Justice of South Australia, yesterday presided at an initial meeting with representatives from the South Australian Bar Association, the Law Society of South Australia, Women Lawyers Association of South Australia, Australian Association of Women Judges, Women at the Bar, and the Adelaide Law School.

The group discussed practical solutions to address the issue and the need to encourage reporting, whilst recognising that a great deal of work has already been undertaken by the legal profession in relation to the issue of bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession.

The members attending agreed on a number of in-principle measures which will include the need for:

  • involvement of the profession from grass roots level to the highest level, starting at law schools;
  • compulsory continuing professional development and compulsory training for all lawyers; and
  • a process whereby those practitioners affected can complain in confidence and receive appropriate support and counselling.

The meeting also recognised a need for ongoing training for all practitioners to be undertaken annually and an acknowledgement of their understanding of the obligation they have in reporting inappropriate behaviour.

The training would include an individual’s responsibility, either as an employer or an employee or simple bystander, in relation to instances of bullying and sexual harassment.
The Chief Justice will call a further meeting later this year to map out practical steps for implementation of the strategies.

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