Baker McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills, King & Wood Mallesons, Norton Rose Fulbright, DLA Piper, Ashurst, Clayton Utz and Allen & Overy will participate in the pilot inter-firm survey, while the other signatories – Allens, MinterEllison and Corrs Chambers Westgarth – have conducted their own internal surveys and are expected to share the insights gained with the aforementioned firms.

The survey is voluntary and anonymous, and aims to track cultural diversity data at partner and senior leadership levels, as well as review position descriptions and key competencies for senior leadership roles. The survey will also enable the sharing of experiences in relation to the effectiveness of programs such as unconscious bias training to overcome barriers to progress.

Commenting on the significance of the survey, Baker McKenzie partner and head of the firm’s BakerDNA cultural diversity initiative Richard Gough said: “This is about cultural change and leadership in Australia’s law firms. We know anecdotally that our people are increasingly from different cultural backgrounds. And we want the leaders of our workplaces to reflect the diversity of our community and clients, but is that happening? The answer is that we don’t really know – we have no data, and the true extent of our cultural diversity is hidden”.

“What this survey does for the first time is to measure our cultural mix in a systematic way across each law firm, including seniority bands. We’ve developed a robust quantitative methodology which means we’ll establish a baseline and can then track trend and progress in a reliable way from year to year as the survey is repeated,” Mr Gough added.

Andrew Pike, Herbert Smith Freehills’ regional managing partner, Australia, said conducting the survey in a collaborative manner makes sense.

“Fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces is not only the right thing to do, it’s good for people and good for business. Like most sectors in Australia, the legal profession has a way to go in addressing this important issue. That’s why it’s fantastic that eight leading firms are putting aside competitive rivalry to collaborate on this survey," he said.

“By coming together to gather data and share insights, we hope to shine a light on the issue, and ultimately help to ensure that there is a diverse range of perspectives both at leadership level and throughout the profession." 

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The announcement of the Law Firm Cultural Survey comes after International Bar Association legal policy and research unit adviser Kieran Pender said diversity policies are failing in law, urging firms to adopt a new approach to what has been done in the past.