More jobs, less pay for female barristers

There has been a rise in the number of female barristers being briefed to appear in court, but women face a pay gap at the bar.

Law Council president Pauline Wright.

There has been a rise in the number of female barristers being briefed to appear in court, but women still face a significant pay gap at the bar, according to Law Council of Australia data.

Females barristers received 27 per cent of briefs in 2018-19, up 2 per cent on the previous year and on track to meet a target of 30 per cent this year. However, women received just 20 per cent of fees to barristers.

Law Council president Pauline Wright said the figures — to be released on the UN’s International Equal Pay Day on Friday — showed there had been positive change, especially for female junior barristers, who were ­receiving more briefs.

“This allows them to gain more experience to further develop their legal career,” she said.

However, she said more work was needed to create a fairer ­environment for female barristers, especially with equal pay.

“Briefing rates for senior ­female barristers are still quite low in comparison to senior male barristers, which may affect the total value of briefing fees for ­female barristers,” she said.

“Despite the amount of fees received by female barristers ­increasing over the past three years, it is disappointing that the gender pay gap between female barristers and their male counterparts is still significant.”

More than 450 law firms and barristers have signed up to the Law Council’s equitable briefing policy, launched in 2016 to ­redress bias faced by women at the bar, including being denied briefs because clients requested male barristers.

A total of 28,865 briefs worth about $420m went to barristers in 2018-19 from those entities that reported their figures to the Law Council, according to its Equitable Briefing Policy Annual Report. Women received 32 per cent of briefs to junior barristers, but just 18 per cent of briefs to senior counsel.

The proportion of fees that went to female barristers increased from 15 per cent to 20 per cent over two years, and is forecast to reach 21 per cent by July 2020 — well short of the 30 per cent fee target by this date. The report said this shortfall would prompt “careful consideration of how best to reach that goal”.

The profession is predicted to beat its target of women receiving 30 per cent of the number of briefs by July 2020, by one percentage points.

One female barrister said she had been “very busy” as a junior barrister, but once she became a senior counsel she found the briefs were going to men.