Why aren't there more women lawyers at the top?

The New Zealand Bar Association | Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o Te Ture (NZBA)'s 2024 gender ratio report revealed that over the past four years, fewer than 30 percent of lead counsel appearing in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court have been women.

With the number of women joining the bar increasing over the past 10 years, the disparity is becoming even more "striking", the report states.

Genevieve Haszard, the co-chair of the NZBA's Diversity and Inclusion Committee, says the profession is historically male-dominated, and that continues to stick. Women currently account for 55 percent of New Zealand lawyers.

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“You can’t say [these women] aren't good enough, because that’s just not the case. I think there is a subconscious bias, there are also cultural issues in terms of feeling less comfortable about putting yourself forward, also networks are huge in our profession... clients like confidence, and often going to someone who's already got a name can give confidence.

"It’s a bit of an old boys club, and so we have to find ways to respond to that. Feeling that you’re maybe not good enough - you've gotta park that, you’ve gotta be brave.”

Haszard says the 2024 report stemmed from a need to drive change at the highest levels of the legal system. It's got plenty of hard data - but she says it still needs more qualitative research to get the full picture.

An Auckland lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, told RNZ that her experiences in law have been different.

"I've never faced a glass ceiling in law, I've never felt limited in my practice because I'm female. I've moved quite highly through the ranks of my current firm over a short period of time, and I've only ever been encouraged by that.

"I think perhaps, just naturally, the more senior you are, the more likely you are to appear in the senior courts."

She says in her experience, it has been more a case of women preventing women from climbing the ladder in the legal profession.

"The only difficulties that I've ever had in law has been woman-on-woman bullying, and that is rife, I think, throughout the industry.

"I don't know why that is an issue. I don't know if it's a thing of, 'Well, I've gone through it, so you've gotta go through it as well' type mentality, or whether it's a fear of losing power and just creating that environment to remain in control of what it is.

"I know that not every woman lawyer in a more senior role has that mentality, but I do think it's something I've seen again and again, and that is a real issue within the industry."

July 2024 data from the Auckland Women's Lawyers Association shows that, at best, women make up 40 percent of partnerships in top-tier law firms. At worst, that figure drops to just 29 percent.

Freelance journalist Sasha Borissenko, who was admitted to the bar in 2013, has extensively covered legal industry issues throughout her career.

She says the partnership model - a system driven by billable hours - rewards those who can work the longest hours, often disadvantaging women "who may take up the majority of caregiving responsibilities".

"They legitimately cannot complete the same time, but that's just a trope anyway because we know efficiency has nothing to do with bums in seats, it's about quality. We know things like working from home, having autonomy in the workplace, having a sense of agency actually drives better work ethic.”

Modes of working is one barrier, but Borissenko says there are many other factors making career advancement even harder, especially for junior lawyers, who are often women.

"You've got sexual misconduct, bullying, microaggressions, unconscious bias. We saw it with the Russell McVeagh revelations in the wake of the #metoo movement, it was pretty loud but... that was considered a one-off. 'Here's one person, move on', when in fact, all of the data suggests otherwise.

“These are systemic issues that have been around for a really long time... you can have how many independent inquiries, reports, investigations, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to accountability... ultimately, we need a big paradigm shift.”

NZ Law Society's 2023 snapshot of the legal profession showed women make up 64 percent of those with 0-7 years experience, with a significant rise in Pasifika, Māori and Asian lawyers.

Haszard says a lack of gender diversity in the higher courts is a "canary in the mine" - indicating poor diversity more broadly.

“There’s a lot of people saying, ‘Why is it important? Why do we need gender diversity? Why do we need to know there are no issues in terms of unconscious bias and engagement of counsel? If you’re working there, surely you must be the best person.’

“My answer to that is... if we do not have diversity of counsel appearing in those courts, we run the risk of a lack of diversity of thoughts, perspectives, experience, a potential reduced diversity of creative legal thinking and response, and that inevitably has an impact on the development of common law.”

Borissenko adds that the current disparity in representation isn't just about legal outcomes - it's also about who holds power.

"It's distribution of power, we see that with politics. It's the few that are holding it and that's not representative of the size of society we live in ... this is an issue that is pervasive and touches every single industry, but from a legal perspective, the justice system holds society together, and lawyers have an opportunity to be trailblazers with that regard from the court processes.

"You know, 50 percent is aspirational, but it should be totally a direct response to our populations that come to the courts."

Anabelle Kay and Veisinia Maka are well aware of the issues women face in the legal profession.

As co-presidents of the University of Auckland's Women in Law group, they take a proactive approach to mitigating these challenges by providing support, mentorship, professional development and networking opportunities while still in law school.

"Law school sets you up academically for what you'd expect from the legal field, but to get your foot in the door, a lot of it is networking, a lot of it is knowing someone," Maka says.

"There's a lot to consider, like who do we know after this? What are the next steps? Because it's not just academically that you have to thrive, you also have to thrive in your networks personally and in all other aspects."

The group holds panel talks and social events to help members build meaningful connections with established women in the industry.

"Representation is so important when giving female students the confidence to go for those more recognised internships or experiences," Kay says.

"If you see someone who is older ... in a position you aspire to, you feel internally that it's more achievable."

Kay notes that much of law school's academic content is historical.

"A majority of judges and lead counsel in higher courts were even more male-oriented ... seeing those male judges taught over and over, female students don't see themselves historically represented.

"We make it a goal, Women in Law, and we're always surrounded by women absolutely killing it."

Maka emphasises the importance of intersectional representation in the legal field.

"There's always a small cohort of Māori and Pasifika students that come through to the university, so there's a small pool to begin with, and law school is competitive ... a lot of the mentality of competitiveness and individualism isn't necessarily homed in our personal values.

"The [legal] space itself is pretty inherently old, male and predominantly white, so I think it comes back to that point about visibility ... really seeing someone who looks like you."

Maka says Tiana Epati, the first NZ Law Society president of Pacific descent, is a huge inspiration to many Māori and Pasifika students.

"To see that visibility and that it's accomplishable ... when you see people like us, then you can identify that this space is truly built for you."

Kay says these various social identities are factored into the group's mentoring programme, which fosters a tuakana-teina relationship between students.

"Students who come from rural communities, students who are neurodiverse, students who are from the LGBT+ community, those all further shape the disparities of seeing someone you resonate with. That's why our mentoring programme aims to pair students based on those positionalities, so younger students can see an older student that might be from the same [background] and they can relate on that level."

Haszard is a member of the Kate Sheppard Chambers, an all-female group of advisors and advocates appearing across all courts and tribunals across Aotearoa.

The Chambers sponsor a scholarship at the Victoria University of Wellington to support research relating to women in law.

Borissenko says to address gender inequity in the legal profession, "bold, measurable action" is needed now.

"The legal sector must hold firms, agencies and judiciary accountable by tracking progress and publicly reporting on gender disparities, transparency of pay... the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act also needs to be updated to reflect our modern world."