Sparke Helmore signs the Law Institute of Victoria's Charter for the Advancement of Women!

Sparke Helmore has signed the Law Institute of Victoria’s (LIV) Charter for the Advancement of Women, further cementing our commitment to gender equality in the legal profession.

This Charter for the Advancement of Women seeks to unite the Victorian legal profession in supporting women and gender equality in the workplace, adopting the NSW Law Society’s Charter guidelines and highlighting the importance of a consistent approach.

Sparke Helmore is proud to be one of the first signatories of this Charter, as we continue to strengthen our firm’s commitment to gender equality and working to remove the barriers that exist across our industry. This is bolstered by our existing support of the NSW Charter, our 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and our People and Culture priorities. We continue to enhance our policies and processes, approach to addressing sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, and proactively encourage the progression of female talent.

As a signatory, we commit to:

• demonstrating leadership by removing gender bias and discrimination in the legal workplace

• driving change in the solicitor profession by developing a culture that supports the retention and promotion of women from all backgrounds

• implementing recruitment and promotion strategies that include gender diversity and gender pay equity as important considerations

• promoting and supporting mentoring and sponsorship of women in the solicitor profession

• encouraging and supporting flexible work practices in the legal profession to assist men and women to better balance professional and other commitments

• ensuring that sexual harassment, or any form of bulling in the workplace, is not tolerated

• establishing procedurally fair, safe, accessible and transparent sexual discrimination and harassment complaints processes, and

• establishing training to protect complainants from victimisation, encouraging bystanders and others to report and ‘call out’ offensive and intimidating behaviour.

Kerri Thomas, Victoria Local Managing Partner says, “We have incredible legal talent across Victoria, however we know there is work to do to continue to address the gender imbalance that still exists. I’m proud that we are an early adopter of the Charter to demonstrate our commitment in this space.”

Phillip Salem, National Managing Partner says, “As a firm we continue to make great progress to achieving gender equality. As a #IStandForRespect Ambassador, I support the LIV and NSW Law Society Charter goals and encourage everyone across the firm and the profession, regardless of gender, to work together to help address gender inequality.”

Read more about the LIV Charter for Advancement of Women.