New sexual harassment platform

Last week, Legal Services commissioner John McKenzie announced in a SafeWork NSW Forum that he intended to start to “break the shield of impunity” in sexual harassment in the legal profession.

An online reporting platform will be launched in late April for the legal profession where lawyers can make confidential, informal complaints and disclosures about sexual harassment, all integrated into a new platform. 

It will be available on any device, any time, day or night, 24/7. 

“I want to be a trigger to move at a quicker rate, the change of culture we need to see, so at the practice level, the law firm level, chamber level, and that leaders do everything to reduce and eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace and properly deal with the strategies and complaints they may have with it,” Mr McKenzie said. 

Six well-trained staff in Mr McKenzie’s team will be the first point of contacts for victims and complaints. They will handle and forward information to Mr McKenzie while providing support to the victims and can facilitate a relationship for the future in making a formal complaint. 

In this platform, data maps will be compiled with hotspots of disclosures. This information can never by itself lead to disclaimer complaints; however, it only happens when the complainant is sufficient to go on a record. 

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If there are repeated offenders and cases in specific hotspots shown in data maps along with repeated disclosures of firms, offices and particular chambers, Mr McKenzie will approach the head or principals in the firms and chambers to explain the confidential information and confidentially deal with these issues — who are the people, what are the policies in place — and it becomes essentially a mini-audit.

Mr McKenzie stresses this is different to the individual complaints section and it deals with the employers.

If a principal refuses to put a system in place and there is continued offence, then it will be dealt with as a practice system basis. 

If the principals fail to put in place policies and procedures, this puts them into a dangerous area, and can lead to a serious disciplinary complaint of unsatisfactory conduct or misconduct, and lead to fines, reprimands, serious repercussions and strike-offs.

“The idea is to hold the principals to account, and it is the case of the employment law for some time now where the employer has some vicarious liability for any sexual harassment connected with the employment unless the employer has taken all reasonable steps to prevent the conduct from occurring,” Mr McKenzie said. 

Guidelines to create a proactive approach in aiding wellbeing 

Minds Count has continued to improve and shape its Workplace Wellbeing Guidelines which will offer a free comprehensive set of resources that provide a framework to create a psychologically safe and healthy workplace. 

Firms are free to tailor the guidelines to the policy and create a psychologically safe and healthy workplace. 

Research has revealed that the legal profession suffers from a high incidence of psychological health concerns.

Minds Count created the Workplace Wellbeing Guidelines to enable workplaces to create psychologically healthy environments for employees.

“We are really trying to advance the conversation, together, through these guidelines,” David Field, acting chair of Minds Count and chief legal counsel of Canon Australia, said. 

The Minds Count guidelines have focused on providing effective leadership which can help protect and promote the wellbeing of all staff and actively work to prevent harm to psychological health.

“Too many people think that leadership is to exhaust the people, to that one last glorious charge of success,” Mr Field said. 

“The legal profession has had this heroic view of how the profession should be done there.

“Things like how many hours did you go without sleep is a heroic thing, and that’s obviously not healthy.

“We want to move on from this heroism, bravado and moving to a much more comprehensive leadership.” 

The Minds Count guidelines will seek to increase trust and fairness, provide appropriate support and clear leadership expectations.

However, firms shouldn’t just follow and try to achieve each point set out in the guideline. 

“If you look at the workplace factors, use that checklist and try to completely set this out for employees, it won’t work this way,” Mr Field said.

“You’ll fail, you’ll exhaust yourself and won’t make progress.

“Instead, consultation is key and that’s how the implementation of guidelines can be better, through using the guidelines as a raw material to inspire a consultation for the employees.”

Firms are encouraged to be a signatory to the Minds Count guidelines and become a part of the advancing conversation for wellbeing in the legal profession. 

Better management of fatigue for lawyers

King & Wood Mallesons has implemented a new systematic and cultural change to manage fatigue for lawyers after their gruelling experience with WorkSafe Victoria and shared their compliance journey to drive the conversation to better manage fatigue for lawyers.

Head of people experience Kathryn Bellion and partner Philip Willox spoke to the forum to share how they have seen the changes in the firm’s system and culture to encourage and provide a conversation for enforcing positive change to work fatigue for lawyers.

The banking royal commission’s tight deadlines had pushed KWM lawyers to the limit, forcing some to work 15-hour shifts, seven days a week.

KWM’s Melbourne office then received an Improvement Notice from WorkSafe Victoria, “in relation to the management of employee fatigue in high-pressure situations”.

After the incident, the firm has been through a major compliance journey and is hoping to drive a change for all firms whose lawyers are struggling with fatigue. 

New changes in the system included better management of lawyers’ workloads, along with a stringent measure to monitor lawyers’ health and provide greater care for lawyers, according to Mr Willox. 

“KWM has implemented systematic changes in providing much more compliance and making sure that there are systems in place if an event like this were to happen again,” Mr Willox said. 

“A more detailed strategy which involves looking at the client’s value, managing the workload of teams and cumulating it all together to see what this will mean for our practitioners and if they will risk being fatigued.”

For smaller firms, it comes with more of a cultural change in establishing greater communication between team members. 

“For smaller firms, I’m a big fan of people coming together in teams, it’s great to get together in teams,” Ms Bellion said. 

“Even to meet for a very short time, even five minutes, would be really beneficial for managing fatigue.

“No matter the size of the firm, having a conversation with the team can always help to understand what each other is going through.”

Mr Willox added: “The team meetings are very important and transposable to any size firms.

“It’s that conversation and understanding what work people are doing and also things that are happening outside of their lives.

“It’s a very traditional way, and by understanding that person and establishing that vice versa, the firm can better tackle fatigue together more constructively.”