Events in 2017 brought a renewed focus to the troubling presence of bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace. The legal sector is not immune, as several high-profile cases have demonstrated.
Last year, as part of its Women Business Lawyers Initiative, the International Bar Association (IBA) undertook a survey to investigate the reasons behind women lawyers leaving law firms and sometimes the legal profession entirely. The findings, drawn from the responses of almost 6,000 lawyers across the globe, found that one in two female respondents had been bullied at work and one in three had been sexually harassed. Among male lawyers, one in three reported that they had been bullied in connection with their employment.
These results prompted the IBA’s Legal Policy and Research Unit to launch a new survey, focused on the nature and prevalence of bullying and sexual harassment in the profession. It is now online and available in six languages (England, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French). Legal Insights spoke with Kieran Pender, a Legal Advisor at the IBA who is leading the project, to find out more.
Why is the IBA undertaking this survey?
When my predecessor received the survey data for our Women Business Lawyers Initiative research mid last year, she could never have imagined how quickly the landscape would change. While those findings were alarming, several months later the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo movement highlighted the real extent of bullying and sexual harassment.
While bullying or sexual harassment is not appropriate in any profession, it is particularly concerning in the legal industry – predicated, as it is, on the highest possible ethical standards. It is also difficult for lawyers to be seen as a force in addressing these workplace-wide issues when our own house is not in order. Accordingly, as the peak membership body for the profession, it is incumbent upon us to work towards achieving change. Gathering evidence is the first step.
What does the survey ask?
The survey begins by asking respondents basic questions – in which jurisdiction they are working, the nature of their practice etc. The survey is completely anonymous, but these questions help us distinguish between corporate legal workplaces and barristers’ chambers, for example, and how the issue may differ between countries.
It then asks a series of questions about how the respondent’s workplace addresses bullying and sexual harassment. Are there policies or procedures in place, does their workplace conduct training sessions, and does the respondent consider these measures to be adequate?
The survey asks whether the respondent has experienced bullying or sexual harassment in the legal workplace, and if so the nature, workplace response to and impact of the incident/s. We appreciate these are sensitive questions; respondents can give as much or as little detail as they wish, although they are asked not to include any information that identifies them or a third party. If respondents have not been subject to bullying or sexual harassment, they are asked whether they have witnessed it occurring to another.
What has been the biggest challenge so far?
The IBA is a global organisation and this is an issue that goes beyond borders. Accordingly, we wanted to ensure the survey could be completed by people across the globe. Designing the survey so it made sense in different languages, different cultures and different aspects of the legal industry was not easy – particularly because the nature of the profession can vary across jurisdictions. I hope we’ve drafted the survey in a way that it makes sense to lawyers everywhere – if not they are welcome to let us know!
How can readers help?
We encourage everyone to undertake the survey themselves and share it widely within their networks. Whether or not you have personally experienced bullying or sexual harassment in the workplace, it is important we have everyone’s input to ensure the data provides an accurate picture.
What’s next?
Once we have the results, we will undertake a comprehensive analysis of the data. We will then produce a report, combining a literature review of prior research on bullying and harassment, an analysis of how different jurisdictions regulate such conduct and the survey findings. We will draw conclusions and offer recommendations, similar to our recently-published Women in Commercial Legal Practice report. Following publication, we will hold several events to discuss the report.
We will then use the data as a spring-board to engage with the legal profession. This is a complex issue involving everyone in the profession. We want to be able to share with all stakeholders a better understanding of the frequency of bullying and harassment, the effectiveness or otherwise of different forms of workplace policies, training and how victims of such misconduct judge the way their workplaces have responded to incidents. Having an empirical understanding of the nature and prevalence of bullying and sexual harassment in the legal industry will hopefully be one small step on the road to achieving change.
Please complete the IBA’s new survey. Kieran can be contacted at LPRU@int-bar.org.
