Lawyer ‘invited to leave’ after incident

A senior lawyer was allowed to stay at one of the country’s largest law firms for five weeks after a sexual harassment incident.

A senior lawyer at one of the country’s largest law firms was ‘invited to leave’ after a sexual harassment incident but allowed to remain in the office for five weeks. Picture: istock

A senior lawyer at Allens, one of the country’s largest law firms, was “invited to leave” after a sexual harassment incident at the company’s 2012 Christmas party but allowed to remain in the office for five weeks until a particular litigation was concluded.

The incident, at the firm’s Melbourne office, is the third at Allens which has come to light in recent weeks — The Weekend Australian reported last month of two incidents in the Brisbane office, after which one senior lawyer departing the firm but a second was promoted.

The Melbourne man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, now works for the Victorian public service. His lawyer said “his departure from his former employer is a matter which is confidential to him”.

Allens, in a statement, said: “The firm commenced an investigation as soon as the female lawyer raised a complaint. The firm acted decisively on her concerns and provided close support to the female lawyer. We were, and remain, deeply concerned by the distress caused to her.”

Fiona Thatcher, a former lawyer at Allens who had previously told The Weekend Australian about an incident in the Brisbane office, has since lodged a formal complaint with the Legal Services Commission alleging professional misconduct.

That lawyer, Timothy Leschke, remains at Allens but has apologised for his actions, which he said were “inexcusable and well below the standards expected of a decent human being”.

“I hope you agree that it is possible for people to make mistakes, learn from them and change. I learned from the 2015 incident and since then have sought to hold myself to higher standards of conduct,” Mr Leschke told The Australian.

Genevieve Collins, chief executive partner at Lander & Rogers, said her firm had recently introduced mandatory reporting rules not only for recipients of unwanted attention but any witnesses or those who may have knowledge of harassment. She said other firms should follow suit.

“We have to get rid of this culture of silence that allows such destructive behaviour in the workplace to go unchecked, and that people have continued to get away with it,” Ms Collins said.

Ms Collins said sexual harassment is often a pattern of behaviour and not just a one-off.

“We consider that mandatory reporting is a significant step in stopping this harassment behaviour in its tracks. Organisations that are serious about eradicating harassment and relationship conflicts at work need to adopt serious measures to short-circuit the potential for anti-social behaviours.”

An Allens spokeswoman said the firm’s internal frameworks, policies and processes regarding stamping out harassment have evolved significantly since 2012 and would continue to do so.

The firm said bystanders had an important role in preventing and responding to sexual harassment but remained concerns about introducing mandatory bystander reporting policies.

“The bystander intervention strategies outlined in Kate Jenkins’ Respect@Work report focus on practical ways to empower and assist bystanders to identify and call out sexual harassment, and ensure they are protected in doing so,” she said.

“We support that approach. We are wary that a ‘mandatory’ approach may be seen to shift the responsibility, but we agree that we all have a role to play.”

Last year, 70 per cent of female lawyers in NSW reported being sexually harassed in the workplace. A 2019 survey funded by the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner found 61 per cent of females in the legal profession had experienced sexual harassment or worse. This is significantly higher than other studies which show about 39 per cent of women face sexual harassment in other work environments.

When harassment had taken place, more than a quarter of the victims, nearly always young female lawyers, ended up resigning, while nearly half of the harassers, usually male and mostly aged over 40, faced no consequences after being reported, the Victorian survey found.

Only 14 per cent of harassers resigned or had their employment terminated.

One female lawyer told the survey: “I was very seriously … assaulted by a barrister. I would never report it to police because I know how badly police and the courts would handle it and that … the bar would protect him. I would be seen as a complainer and maybe even crazy.”

“There is a genuine risk that sexual harassment is unchecked because of the hierarchical nature of law firms and the bar. Anyone in a position of authority or seniority can harass a person junior to them with little chance of complaint,” another said.