News & Views

AusLSA recognises the commitments and achievements of the finalists in the Women in Law Awards - Diversity Law Firm of the Year;  Ashurst, Clayton Utz, Coleman Greig Lawyers, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Dentons, Gilbert + Tobin, King & Wood Mallesons, McCullough Robertson, Shine Lawyers and Sparke Helmore Lawyers. We hope that you will review the other achievements if these firms in the upcoming 2019 AusLSA Sustainability Insight.  

The 12th Annual Performance Report on the National Pro Bono Target has reported an increase of 14.11% in pro bono work to 473,380 hours, the highest ever recorded. This included target signatory firms undertaking an average of 35.83 hours of pro bono per lawyer.  Read More 

AusLSA is proud to support and recommend the  Women In Law - The Next 100 Years  seminar. The activity, commitments and progress of many AusLSA member firms to improve gender equality should be an inspiration to others both within and outside our industry. RSVP 

There has been a lot of press in the past week about the new Modern Slavery Legislation. At the very least, businesses with a revenue threshold of $100M (or $50M in NSW) will be required to publish Modern Slavery Statements which address supply chain risks. If you still don't know what this is about, there is a great article from Lawyers Weekly HERE and another from Monash Business School  HERE.

Modern Slavery legislation in Australia was enacted on 1 January 2019 and, in readiness for mandatory Modern Slavery reporting it's time to start considering whether or not your suppliers are behaving ethically.  This is a significant task, and you might ask what difference you can make, but collectively, this is a step in the right direction.

See how Norton Rose Fulbright are looking at this issue in an article from Lawyers Weekly HERE.

It is common for sustainability, well-being, social impact and diversity and inclusion programs to have siloed ownership — where teams nearly compete against each other for resources and employee attention. REGISTER FOR WEBCAST 

Do you know your gender pay gap? Improvements in the gender pay gap is one indicator that tells a firm where they are on the journey to gender equality and if women’s full potential is not being realised in your firm then it is probably costing you?  The national theme for Equal Pay Day 2019 is ‘The gap matters’. The gender pay gap matters because it measures the extent of the barriers women face in the workforce. 

For many years the big four accounting firms, and many other specialist firms, have been building successful integrated environmental, social and governance (ESG) advisory practices to meet growing demand from business. Today Minter Ellison also launched its own integrated Responsible Business Practice focused on climate risk and sustainability, business and human rights, responsible finance and investment, and governance and conduct. READ MORE 

The American Bar Association (ABA) has adopted a resolution urging all levels of government as well as the private sector to “to recognize their obligation to address climate change and take action” to “[r]educe U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to net zero or below as soon as possible, consistent with the latest peer-reviewed science.” The ABA’s House of Delegates, the policy-making body for the organization, adopted the resolution without dissent at its annual meeting in San Francisco. READ MORE 

It is sometimes useful to look over the fence to see whats happening in other countries to compare progress and top see what we can learn.  “This report is an important reference for anyone who wants to understand where the legal profession came from and where it stands today,”  said ABA President Bob Carlson. The ABA provides a great analysis and discussion of lawyer diversity READ HERE