WORKPLACE CULTURE
The path to gender equality requires removing cultural & structural barriers in the profession JUSTICE SAM DOYLE
H
aving earlier completed a Commerce degree, I completed my Honours degree in Law at the University of Adelaide in 1995. I spent a year working as an Associate to the Honourable Justice Lander of the Supreme Court, and a year undertaking post-graduate study at Oxford University. I commenced full-time work as a commercial litigation solicitor at Fisher Jeffries in 1997. I worked for five years as a commercial litigation solicitor, before joining Jeffcott Chambers and the Independent Bar in 2002. I worked as a barrister for about 14 years, taking silk in 2012. In December 2015 I became a Judge of the Supreme Court. I have spent the last five years in that role, hearing a range of civil and criminal matters of an interlocutory, trial and appellate nature. From 2021 I will be sitting on exclusively appellate matters as a member of the newly formed Court of Appeal. On a personal front, I am married with four youngish daughters (a 15-yearold, an 11-year-old, and twins who are eight-years-old). My wife, Susannah, is also a lawyer. She has worked in various roles in both civil and criminal practice, including at a couple of firms, the DPP and most recently in a government department. Despite us having the financial capacity to pay for some childcare assistance, and significant help from our parents, Susannah has been prepared to spend significant periods out of the workforce, or in part-time
6 THE BULLETIN March 2021
employment, while our children have been growing up, with the obvious implications for her own career. I realise there is a risk of over generalising when speaking about matters of gender and culture in the legal profession. What follows are no more than some comments based upon my experiences and observations. I am also conscious of the limited perspective I can provide – particularly given that I am a male who comes from a family of lawyers, who has had the benefit of a very supportive spouse and extended family, and who has had a very fortunate career thus far. However, I hope some of my comments are nevertheless of some interest.
THE CULTURE OF LEGAL PRACTICE AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR GENDER EQUALITY Speaking generally, and with a focus upon my experience as a solicitor, barrister and judge working in those areas of the legal profession focussed upon litigation, there is no doubt that the legal profession is a hard-working, competitive and stressful environment. In part this is a function of the complex and demanding society in which we live. But in part it is also a function of the adversarial and hierarchical nature of the legal profession, and the sorts of personalities it attracts. It seems to me that some of these cultural features of the legal profession are particularly evident amongst those practising at the Bar. Perhaps it is because
barristers spend such a large proportion of their time engaged in the adversarial aspects of legal practice. But I think there are also some structural considerations that contribute. While barristers generally practise from chambers, they are selfemployed and largely independent. This seems to me to allow, if not encourage, certain personality traits to flourish in a way that might not be permitted to occur in the more controlled and accountable environments of a law firm or within government. I do not think it takes a dominant, aggressive or arrogant personality to succeed at the Bar. Indeed, not only can one succeed without any of these personality traits, they are usually more of a curse than a blessing. It is often the calm, careful and considered personalities who thrive at the Bar. But there persists a perception of practice at the Bar that perhaps attracts a disproportionate number of people with such tendencies, and perhaps deters those who do not wish to work with people with such tendencies. But even putting these undesirable personality traits to one side, I do accept that practice at the Bar attracts, and generally requires, people who are dedicated and hardworking. Further, it can be a fine line between being very dedicated and hardworking, and becoming obsessed and losing perspective and balance in one’s life. The latter is probably an inevitability at least during some periods, such as during the course of a trial, or
