Misconduct in lawyers’ sights

For the first time the New Zealand Law Society is proposing changes which mean discrimination, bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and other unacceptable conduct within the legal profession will be clearly defined.

There will be a clear threshold for when unacceptable conduct should be reported to the society; and protection for anyone who makes a report or complaint. We will also require law practices to provide a report each year, declaring that these issues are being managed appropriately.

This month we have been openly consulting the profession and the public on these proposed changes to lawyers’ conduct rules under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act.

These changes form an important part of a range of measures we have taken, and plan to take, to address these issues.

When I became president of Te Ka¯ hui Ture o Aotearoa (the New Zealand Law Society) in April last year, the profession was still reeling from revelations of discrimination, bullying, harassment and other unacceptable conduct. There were valid questions being asked about the culture of the profession and how we could change for the better.

Changing our conduct rules is one of the ways the society is playing a leadership role in this area.

Why has it taken so long to develop the proposed changes? The answer is simple; we wanted more dramatic changes to the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. We worked closely with the Government to explore options to change the regulatory framework. However, we were told this was not possible at the time.

We then had to change tack – to investigate what we could do to strengthen our powers within the existing framework. We looked at the one area where we could make change without legislative amendment; the rules and regulations that applied to professionals both in New Zealand and overseas. We sought advice from regulatory and ethics experts.

The changes we now propose were informed by this advice, as well as the work and recommendations of the society’s Independent Regulatory Working Group, chaired by Dame Silvia Cartwright, the 2018 Workplace Environment Survey, and the concerns and experiences of many within the legal community. While all this has taken time, I believe the proposed changes are as robust as we could make them.

It is important that since these issues became public in 2018, the Law Society has not stood still. We have introduced other initiatives to support healthy, safe, respectful, and inclusive legal workplaces, including free counselling (evidentially there is a link between poor mental health and poor workplace behaviour) and an 0800 number for those affected.

I’ve also spoken widely and publicly about the fact that these issues go beyond gender and highlighted the need to talk about race and disability when discussing discrimination and harassment. All voices, on all forms of discrimination, need to be heard.

I am confident the Law Society is doing what we can, as one of the leaders in the profession, to help bring about change. But we cannot, and must not, do that alone. Real and long-lasting change will only take place when everyone takes responsibility, whether that is showing up to support a colleague and calling out inappropriate behaviour or consciously self-educating, doing the work and helping to build a supportive, nondiscriminatory environment within your workplace.

We all need to play our role if we are to bring about fundamental, enduring change for our profession.