Ms Mateljan identified three key trends within the legal sphere: two of which were ethical challenges arising from lawyers’ use of technology and workplace safety moving forward. 

Technology and social media use

In terms of the former, Ms Mateljan said that the use of technology within law was no longer an option — and is “essential” for lawyers to now have. 

“It used to be the case that lawyers could optionally use technology to enhance their practice. But now, if they don’t know how to use technology, there’s actually a lot of different pitfalls to that. I mean, it’s in terms of costs for clients. If you’re not using the most efficient way of delivering legal services, then you can get into trouble from a cost perspective. So that’s a trend coming in the common law world,” she explained. 

“There’s also issues of character. So, understanding how to manage your reputation in a digital world, and particularly through the use of social media. I think almost all lawyers are on LinkedIn in Australia, and that’s the case in America as well. But I mean, if you overshare or don’t understand what to share and what not to share, you can get into a lot of trouble there. And I also think confidentiality is a really big issue. 

“If you don’t know how to use technology properly now, you can end up inadvertently disclosing client information or exposing your client’s information to attack through cyber crime and things like that. So yeah, just having that competence of being able to use technology well just cuts across so many different areas of how lawyers practise and how they serve their clients. It is just really too big to be ignored now.”

With this rise in social media use, lawyers now need to be careful about what they do on social media outside of the nine to five, Ms Mateljan noted. 

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“Although it may not be expressly in the professional conduct rules, the professional conduct rules do say that lawyers have a duty not to act in a way that will bring the profession into disrepute. And it’s very easy to do that through social media, as we are all painfully aware. I think that’s one of the biggest areas. And I think it’s also that people don’t realise that the stuff they share outside of work hours, if you’re identifiable as to who you work for, if you use your full name or you’ve got your employer on your profile, then that can still affect you. It can have quite a big impact,” she added. 

“There’s been some more extreme cases from America where there was a guy who was in-house counsel with a big insurance company, and he streamed himself storming the Capitol building on the 6th of January, a couple of years back. So that’s obviously a very extreme example. But I mean, if you’re engaging in activities outside of work that could potentially bring the profession into disrepute, whether that’s just accidental or more intentional, then you can get into a lot of trouble as well from a disciplinary perspective.”

Workplace safety concerns

Additionally, new obligations to address workplace safety, such as sexual harassment, will be front of mind for lawyers this year, added Ms Mateljan. 

“In Australia, one in three workers [has] been sexually harassed in the last five years. And the recent International Bar Association study, which spoke to 7,000 lawyers in 135 countries, found that one in three women and one in 14 men had been sexually harassed in their current roles. I mean, those are crazy statistics. It’s obviously affecting so many lawyers at a personal level, and it ties in with broader issues like wellbeing and mental health. It’s so important for lawyers to address it as a profession and for their own individual benefits. 

“It’s great to see that the employment laws are changing to put a positive duty on employers to actually take reasonable steps to prevent those types of issues in the workplace. And not just sexual harassment, but also, they’re really interesting idea of this hostile work environment on the grounds of sex, because that doesn’t necessarily need to be sexually based harassment. It can just be based on sex-based characteristics, which is, I think it’s a really positive move, but obviously is going to raise a lot of questions for employers on how they can comply with that duty and what they need to do,” she said. 

“But I hope it will encourage employers to reflect on how they can just make the workplace a safer and more positive place for lawyers, because everyone deserves to have a safe workplace, and everyone deserves to look forward to going to work and not feel worried or nervous or feel like their wellbeing is being negatively affected. I think it’s a really positive shift and really important.”

For lawyers to do their part in ensuring a safe and supportive workplace, Ms Mateljan recommended they educate themselves on new legislation and developments, which she said additionally plays into ethically using technology. 

“The use of technology does unfortunately often play a large role in these workplace safety situations like bullying or harassment, because most of the time, bullying and harassment isn’t what people physically do, it’s what they say or what they write and technology’s often the means to deliver that. So being aware of your own obligations and how you can interact with people in a way that’s respectful,” she explained. 

“And I think one of the challenges is that sometimes people don’t necessarily realise that they might be making someone else uncomfortable or behaving in a way that’s not entirely appropriate. And that’s why educating yourself is so important. Looking at what is bullying and what is sexual harassment and what does that mean and what does it look like in a work context? 

“And also thinking about, ‘what could be some of my biases that I’m bringing to the situation?’ Because we’ve all got them. I mean, it’s unavoidable. We live in a culture where there are certain biases, and we can’t help but absorb them. It’s no one’s fault. But if you make yourself aware of that and empower yourself, then you’re much more likely to be creating a positive workplace around you and to be having really positive interactions with your colleagues.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Sarah Mateljan, click below: