Law firms urged to ditch ‘pay secrecy’ and close gender gap

Law Society of NSW president Cassandra Banks has called on all law firms to publicly publish their pay information, saying it is ‘ridiculous’ the legal industry is trailing other fields.

NSW Law Society president Cassandra Banks.

Law Society of NSW president Cassandra Banks has called on all legal firms to publicly publish their pay information, saying it is “ridiculous” the legal industry is falling behind other fields where pay transparency is common practice.

Ms Banks’ comments come after the release of a landmark report by the Law Society of NSW, in conjunction with incoming Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody, highlighting strategies for firms to combat the ever-present gender pay gap among lawyers.

The report drew on recent data showing female lawyers fall into significantly lower pay brackets than their male counterparts, with a greater proportion of men who work full-time earning over $150,000 (41 per cent) compared to women who work full-time (34 per cent).

For solicitors aged 35-39, 26 per cent of women earn over $250,000 compared to 33 per cent of men. In the 40-49 age bracket, 23 per cent of women earn more than $250,000, compared to 34 per cent of men.

One of the key recommendations in the report is to increase pay transparency within firms, noting the benefits for diversity and enhancing the “goal-setting behaviours of all employees”.

“Back when I took over a law firm … I rang around my colleagues to see if they would tell me what they paid their staff so I could pay mine fairly, which was all a bit ridiculous to me,” Ms Banks told The Australian.

“Other industries publish their pay levels, and this needs to happen in law firms and the legal profession so that people know where they stand.

“They need to know so they can approach their managers and say ‘Hey, we need to talk about this’. There needs to be a change in the culture so there’s no pay secrecy, and so women can get paid the same as their male counterparts.”

Pay disclosure laws introduced by Labor last year created a new workplace right for employees to ask one another about their remuneration and disclose it.

Under the laws, employers are prevented from enforcing pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts and from including pay secrecy clauses in new employment contracts and other written agreements.

But Ms Banks said legal firms should go a step further and publish salary information publicly to ensure a “culture change” around pay support and women being remunerated appropriately.

“It blows my mind that in 2023 there is still a pay gap and still a glass ceiling,” she said. “We need to rethink the way things have always been done.”