The organisation is stepping up current initiatives that encourage change
New Zealand Law Society President Kathryn Beck says that the legal profession must take responsibility for its handling of sexual misconduct.
The comment comes in the wake of sexual harassment allegations making headlines in the country’s legal profession. Last week, Russell McVeagh announced an external investigation that will look into the scandal that hit the firm earlier this month.
“The disclosures over the past week will have made every lawyer in New Zealand consider their workplace and also their profession,” Beck said.
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Though sexual and other forms of harassment are not unique to lawyers, lawyers must take the recent revelations as a call to action, as the profession cannot wait for the issue to go away or slowly change, she said.
“The whole legal profession must take responsibility for the way it works and the way it treats sexual harassment of any degree. It is not OK, and I am calling on all lawyers and others in legal workplaces to speak out if anything happens to them or if they see or hear of anything happening to their workmates,” Beck said.
“As a profession our goal must now be to create workplaces which are safe environments for everyone. Some firms will need a cultural change, and this must become a focus and an imperative. Other firms will be models of what a safe workplace should be, and it would be sad that their efforts are obscured just because they are in the legal profession,” she said.
Beck said that the Law Society is bolstering current initiatives that encourage change.
“We will strive to provide support and make other processes available so that this change can occur as quickly as possible,” she said.