Equitable Briefing Policy

The Law Council is committed to taking measures that ensure a level playing field for all members of the Australian legal profession. A major step towards this goal is the development of a Equitable Briefing Policy, which briefing entities now have the opportunity to adopt.

The Policy includes interim and long term targets with the ultimate aim of briefing women in at least 30 per cent of all matters and paying 30 per cent of the value of all brief fees by 2020.

The Policy is intended to drive cultural change within the legal profession, support the progression and retention of women barristers, and address the significant pay gap and underrepresentation of women in the superior courts.

The Policy was adopted by the Directors of the Law Council of Australia on Saturday 18 June 2016 and is a major step for the legal profession towards the goal of improving the briefing of women barristers across the country.

The Policy is available for adoption by any briefing entity, including organisations and counsel in addition to clients of briefing entities operating in Australia. The selection of counsel is ultimately the decision of the client, and in-house counsel are encouraged to adopt and apply the Policy when instructing briefing entities and making their selections of barristers.

Sign up to the Equitable Briefing Policy

Your entity can adopt the Equitable Briefing Policy by completing the following link.

Please note the form requires confirmation on agreeing to the terms and conditions and supplying a company logo (if signing up on behalf of an organisation).

For any other enquires, please contact mail@lawcouncil.asn.au.

Guidelines

These Guidelines are designed to provide practical measures to facilitate the implementation of the Policy.

Annual Reporting

In adopting the policy, briefing entities commit to providing a confidential annual report on their briefing practices and measures taken to implement the Policy to the Law Council by 30 September each year. The Law Council will collate data provided and produce a final report of figures for publication by 30 November 2017. Data will be aggregated and published information will not disclose identifying information.

The Law Council has developed an online portal to assist organisations and counsel to provide their annual report following the end of each financial year.

If your organisation has adopted the Policy, please use the following link to provide your annual report for the 2016-17 financial year.

If you have adopted the Policy as counsel, please use the following link to provide your annual report for the 2016-17 financial year.

**Note**

The Law Council had originally intended to release its final report by 30 November following the receipt of adoptee reports by 30 September. As this was the first year for collecting annual reports, extensions were granted from the 30 September due date. Given the last report was not received until late November, the final report will be similarly delayed.

Organisations that have endorsed the Policy: