New Zealand's highest courts lack female representation - report

03/09/2018

There is a lack of female representation in New Zealand's highest courts, new research shows.

Despite an equal number of males and females practicing law, females are greatly underrepresented before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, New Zealand Bar Association research has found.

The report, released on Monday, says females made up just 27 percent of lead counsel appearances before both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court over a six-year period.

The overall figure drops to 16 percent when the Crown Law Office is excluded from the data, co-authors Jenny Cooper QC and Gretta Schumacher found.

"The most shocking aspect is the absence of any material improvement over the six years that the study covers," says Ms Cooper, which she says "demonstrates the fallacy of the argument that it is just a matter of time and gender inequality will take care of itself".

"Active measures are needed to overcome entrenched attitudes that deprive women of opportunities to prove themselves as advocates."

Women represent only 9 percent of Queen's Counsels (QC), with 10.4 percent for Court of Appeal and 7.47 percent for Supreme Court appearances, the research shows.

"Both male and female juniors need to have opportunities to work with and learn from senior female advocates," says Ms Schumacher, fearing the shortage of women in senior advocacy roles will discourage young women from studying law.

"We need to make conscious efforts as a profession to ensure that advocacy is not seen as a male preserve."

There are policies in place to promote gender balance within the law profession, such as the NZ Bar Association's gender equitable briefing policy, which was adopted by Crown Law in 2009.

But the research author's note there needs to be further understanding of why there is still such a gender imbalance in New Zealand's highest courts.

NZ Bar Association President Clive Elliott QC says the results are disappointing.

"While many of us may have thought there was a gender imbalance for higher court legal representation, this research definitely confirms it.

"There has been a focus on trying to address the issue through gender equitable briefing, but clearly the legal profession needs to do more, and move more quickly in order to create fairness and opportunity for women barristers and solicitors."

The research comes after a New Zealand Law Society survey in May found that one third of female lawyers have experienced sexual harassment during their careers.

The results of the survey prompted an apology from Law Society president Kathryn Beck, who said it "wasn't good enough" that it was unaware of the scale of the problem.

Newshub.