A cultural challenge for the Western Australian legal profession: a lack of diversity at the WA Bar?
Publication Details
Howieson, J.,
&
Fitzgerald, T. W.
(2012).
A cultural challenge for the Western Australian legal profession: a lack of diversity at the WA Bar?.
The University of Western Australia Law Review, 36 (1), 227-251.
Abstract
At the request of the Western Australian Bar Association, the authors undertook a study into issues of diversity at the Western Australian Bar. Members of the Association had noticed, but not specifically studied, various demographic imbalances in the Bar’s constitution. A review of the literature revealed that there was a paucity of statistical analysis of the makeup of Australian barrister associations generally, let alone into any specific reasons as to how and why a demographic imbalance might exist. Recognising that a clearer picture of the breakdown of the demographics of the Western Australian legal profession and of the specific cultures that might exist at the Bar was needed, the authors undertook a study that examined whether there was an existing legal monoculture at the Bar, and if so what some of the reasons for this might be.
Keywords
barristers, Western Australia, demographics, diversity, women
