Survey of sexual harassment in legal profession reveals 'concerning' issue

Thursday, 24 May 2018

Legal researcher Zoe Lawton has been blacklisted by a Government agency after creating a #metoo blog.

An 'unsurprising' but concerning level of sexual harassment in the New Zealand legal profession has been revealed in the partial results of a survey.

Over 15 per cent of the 350 respondents to an anonymous online survey describe at least one experience of sexual harassment, including 10 people who describe sexual assault or rape.

Wellington Women Lawyers' Association launched the survey after waves of sexual misconduct allegations in the legal profession - beginning with reportedly inappropriate sexual behaviour of Russell McVeagh employees reported by summer clerks in February.

The survey will end on June 30 and has been sent to all major law firms; two confirming they have circulated it among staff.

* Students in law clerk programme report inappropriate sexual behaviour

* When a young lawyer tried speaking out - three times

* Chapman Tripp lawyer alleged to have had sex with student on law camp

* Two calls on day one for Law Society harassment hotline**

Wellington Women Lawyers' Association convenor Steph Dyhrberg said the response had been healthy, concerning and unsurprising.

'We weren't really sure what to expect because there isn't any good New Zealand data around about this.

'I'm not surprised to see that there's a fair swag of people who have experienced this low-level behaviour, really concerned of course to see that there's over three per cent that have experienced sexual assault.'

The survey asks legal professionals, not only lawyers, if they have personally experienced or witnessed various forms of sexual harassment.

Over 25 per cent said they had been touched without consent, 37 per cent had be subject to inappropriate staring, and 5 per cent had been promises or threats made to solicit sexual favours.

Nearly half of the respondents, 46.8 per cent, have received verbal remarks of a sexual nature, and over 10 per cent were repeatedly and unwanted sexually propositioned.

Of the respondents, 85 people had not witnessed any sexual harassment in the workplace in the last ten years.

This was only a snapshot: Dyhrberg expected stories of harassment to be drawn from the data.

Employers named in the survey can then be given confidential feedback, with evidence of a problem.

'This is a black-hole … a lot of people assume because they're not getting formal complaints that it's not really happening.

'I've been an employment lawyer for 26-years. This is of course not confined to law. I would say we would be similar to other professional environments.'

Dyhrberg said she hoped all law firms would be supportive of staff completing the survey.