We are proud to announce the following nominees for the upcoming ACT Women Lawyers Awards. All nominees are of an incredibly high calibre and we know the judging panel will have some very difficult decisions ahead of them.
Winner of the inaugural Woman Lawyer of the Year (Government) Award, Helen Curtis, shares what winning meant to her. We encourage ACT lawyers to nominate themselves, their colleagues, employers and friends before the 31 August deadline. More information on how to nominate is available online.
Women Lawyers Association ACT and ANU Women In Law Organisation invite you to join us for a 'Women in Law Career Panel' on Monday 20 August, from 6:30-7:30pm at ANU.
Our panellists come from a range of backgrounds, and aim to show you that there is no one set path following the completion of a law degree.
We are delighted to invite members and friends of the ACT Women Lawyer’s Association to our End of Year Drinks.
Join us at Highball Express to and catch up with your fellow members and celebrate the end of year season!
Members’ tickets are free by but registration is required to ensure availability.
Non-members are welcome at a cost of $20.
Thank you for your ongoing support of WLA ACT.
The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT (WLA ACT) is seeking feedback from members to help inform its policy direction for 2021-22.
The Diversity and Inclusion Survey can be accessed here.
Now is your chance to have your say!
Please also feel free to forward the survey to your colleagues and contacts.
Thank you for your ongoing support of WLA ACT.
The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT is pleased to announce Court Family Day in 2021, to celebrate Law Week.
As part our Law Week events, the ACT Supreme Court is opening its doors on Saturday, 15 May 2021. Practitioners, their families and other interested members of the public will be able to attend the Court and learn about what goes on day to day and the role that judges and lawyers play in the work that the Court does.
Her Honour Justice Loukas-Karlsson will open the event. Attendees will have the opportunity to take a tour of the Court. Attendees are encouraged to bring their family members, including children of all ages.
We also note that photos will be taken at the event for our social media and website. If you do not want your photo taken please just let the photographer know. If you have any questions, please email events@wlaact.org.au.
The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT is pleased to announce a new networking event on our busy 2021 social calendar - WLA Painting and Cocktails!
The WLA ACT have collaborated with The Social Creative for an evening combining painting and cocktails to bring out your creative side while you mingle with your peers in the ACT legal community.
The wonderful team at The Social Creative will be leading a tutorial to paint a Pop Art style painting for this event.
You can find the event details and purchase tickets here. We look forward to seeing you there!
We are very grateful for the generous support of our sponsor for this event, Neilan Stramandinoli Family Law.
The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT is pleased to announce the resumption of the Annual Law Week Dinner, to be held on 11 May 2021.
Our special guest this year is Bri Lee. Bri is a Sydney-based author, freelance writer and speaker and is best known for her 2018 memoir, Eggshell Skull.
In her memoir, Bri explores sexism in the legal industry and justice system, and tells the story of how many barriers women – including Bri herself – face when trying to access justice. Eggshell Skull won several awards including the Biography of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards. It also received several other listings, including being longlisted for The Stella Prize.
Since that time, Bri has released a second book, Beauty, and been a well-known advocate for criminal justice law reform, working as a research assistant to Professor Jonathan Crowe at Bond University where together they co-authored a paper detailing Queensland’s consent and ‘mistake of fact’ laws.
Event details are here or buy your tickets here! Tables of 8 available (limited numbers) as well as members and non-members tickets. RSVP by 5 May 2021!
We are very grateful for the generous support of our sponsors:
The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT (WLA ACT) is deeply concerned to read recent media reports in the Sydney Morning Herald concerning allegations of sexual harassment in the legal profession.
WLA ACT takes these allegations very seriously.
Sexual harassment within the ACT legal profession remains a pervasive problem that continues to disproportionately affect women lawyers.
‘I was deeply concerned to read [last Monday’s] story. It is clear the ACT legal profession has a long way to go to make sure it is free of sexual harassment,’ WLA ACT President Danielle Mildren said.
Sadly, WLA ACT knows the stories in the article are not unique.
‘The stories in this article highlight how important it is for the ACT legal profession to address systemic cultural issues that underlay the issue of sexual harassment in the legal profession,’ Ms Mildren said.
‘Sadly, we know of so many women lawyers in the ACT who have suffered sexual harassment at work.
‘Many do not report the incidents for the same reason as the brave women in the article - the power imbalance between the perpetrator and the complainant, as well as the very real fear of damaging their career prospects.’
In 2018, a WLA ACT survey found 57 per cent of those who responded had been subject to sexual harassment while at work. Nearly half said that they had witnessed another person being sexually harassed while at work. WLA ACT has long advocated for the need for a strong response from the profession to effectively address sexual harassment.
It is clear that effective workplace training, accessible reporting mechanisms and greater support for women lawyers are needed in order to effectively address this issue and bring about effective cultural change in ACT legal workplaces.
These recommendations were also put forward in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s recent report Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report (2020).
‘The Australian Human Rights Commission also highlighted this as a significant issue in the legal profession when it published its Respect@Work report earlier this year,’ Ms Mildren said.
‘It is clear an industry-wide approach is needed to combat this problem and we want all our members who have experienced sexual harassment to know they are not alone.
‘Everyone has the right to be safe while at work and WLA ACT will continue to advocate for urgent action on this issue.’
On 12 March we were joined by esteemed guest, Judge Kate Hughes of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, to celebrate International Women’s Day 2020.
At this sold out event, attendees were provided with the unique opportunity to hear Judge Hughes speak about her journey to the bench and the defining moments she encountered along the way, and how she balances wellbeing and judicial workload.
The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT would like to extend its sincere thanks to Judge Hughes for so generously sharing her insights and experiences.
On 4 May 2019 the doors of the ACT Courts were opened to ACT practitioners and their family members for the WLA ACT Court Family Day. This was a great way for children and partners of ACT practitioners to be able to see inside the newly refurbished Courts and to get an idea of what a day in the life of a lawyer or judge entails.
