The New Zealand Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter has now been adopted by 65 legal workplaces across the country.

The charter was launched to the profession by the Law Society in April.

65 signatories represent the workplaces of well over 1500 lawyers. New Zealand currently has 13,020 practising lawyers.

“65 signatories is good progress. What we would like to achieve is 100 signatories by the end of the year,” Law Society Women’s Advisory Panel chair Chris Moore says.

“The Gender Equality Charter is about taking collective action to shift the culture of the profession. The results of this years’ Workplace Environment Survey made it clear that many lawyers want a better workplace culture. Embedding the Gender Equality Charter into your workplace is one way we can achieve this across the profession.”

Many of the biggest law firms in New Zealand have signed up as well as in-house teams, barristers and sole practitioners.

The Gender Equality Charter is a set of commitments aimed at improving the retention and advancement of women lawyers.

These include tackling unconscious bias, encouraging flexible working arrangements, closing the gender pay gap and promoting equitable instructions.

Signatories agree to meet these commitments over a two-year period and report on progress to the New Zealand Law Society. Free online tools and resources are available to assist charter signatories with their work.

For example, a free unconscious bias webinar and guidance on how to conduct a gender pay audit as well as parents in the profession toolkit is available.

To sign up to the charter, email womeninlaw@lawsociety.org.nz with the subject line: sign me up.

To find out more about the charter, check out the Law Society’s website.