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Women barristers have received at least 30 per cent of both the number and value of all briefs for the first time in a decade.
In a “significant milestone” for the Law Council of Australia’s (LCA) equitable briefing policy, women barristers received 32 per cent of the 35,380 briefs and have shared in 31 per cent of the $1.06 billion worth of fees received for briefs in the 2024–25 financial year.
The profession has met the briefing targets for the last four years, but this has marked the first time the value target has also been met.
President Tania Wolff said the figures reflect “sustained efforts across the profession to drive cultural change and improve equality”.
However, the LCA stressed that reporting has dropped by 12 per cent and the new figures must be considered in that context.
“A decline in reporting rates this year is a concern, and there is more work to do to ensure the data accurately reflects practice across the profession. We are taking steps to strengthen reporting processes and support greater participation in future years,” Wolff said.
The equitable briefing policy was first introduced in 2004 to encourage individual barristers and organisations that select counsel to make reasonable endeavours to identify women barristers. However, it did not include targets or a system for tracking progress.
Following the 2014 results of the National Report on Attrition and Re-engagement, the LCA redeveloped the equitable briefing policy in 2016 to include short-term and long-term targets.
In the 2024–25 period, senior women barristers received 25 per cent of briefs, which is an increase of 3 percentage points from the previous year and 14 percentage points since 2016.
Junior women barristers received 41 per cent of the 15,681 briefs, representing a 1 percentage point increase since the 2023–24 financial year and a 13 per cent increase since 2016.
The value of briefs increased 9 percentage points from the previous year and 16 percentage points since 2016.
In 2024–25, senior barristers said they were 1.2 times more likely to appear alongside junior women barristers than junior men; however, they were 1.94 times more likely to appear alongside senior men barristers than senior women barristers.
Further, the new data showed women barristers were recommended by another barrister 64 per cent of the time for new matters, and were recommended by adoptees 62 per cent of the time for current matters. In the previous year, these figures both sat at 59 per cent.
Looking ahead, Wolff said the LCA introduced the National Attrition and Re-Engagement Study Plus (NARS+) to “better understand the diversity of the legal profession” since the 2014 results.
“The findings will deepen our understandings of attrition and engagement across different groups of lawyers and help shape future workforce strategies. The work is critical to ensure the profession reflects – and can effectively serve – the community,” Wolff said.
“I encourage members of the profession to provide their views before the survey closes on 24 April 2026.”
