Ex-lawyer: Harassment the norm
A former lawyer says sexual harassment is an industry norm and is calling on the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) to urgently address it instead of ‘‘paying lip service to the problem’’.
Olivia Wensley said she was speaking up for countless other female lawyers who could not for fear it might destroy their careers.
She left the profession last year when she had her first child and now works at a Queenstown technology firm.
Following the Russell McVeagh scandal, she took to Linkedin to write a piece about her personal experience as a lawyer in four New Zealand firms and overseas.
‘‘The thing is, sexual harassment is the norm. And everyone in our profession knows it,’’ she wrote.
‘‘The power balance is skewed – the normal scenario involves a powerful male partner and a young female intern or solicitor. The partner holds all the power. He literally holds the young woman’s whole future career in his hands.
‘‘To speak out or make a complaint would have disastrous consequences. To rebuff his advances would also have grave implications for her career.’’
Office managers, human resource staff, chief executives and board members ‘‘all want to protect their cash cow, the partner – so they turn a blind eye, enabling his behaviour’’.
She said most people she had worked with were ‘‘wonderful’’, but they needed to call out colleagues behaving inappropriately and support people suffering sexual harassment instead of protecting the status quo.
It comes as broadcaster and journalist Alison Mau launches a national #metoonz investigation into sexual harassment, supported by The Press.
Wensley said she started experiencing sexual harassment on her first job at age 22 at a New Zealand firm.
When she was hired she was referred to as a ‘‘nice little piece of ass’’ by a superior.
‘‘It made me feel sick.
‘‘The culture at this organisation was nothing short of disgraceful and debaucherous, like something out of The Wolf on Wall Street. The parties were frequent. Alcohol flowed freely.
‘‘Women were treated like objects and plied with drinks.
‘‘I have had so many offensive things be said and done to me, or that I have witnessed, that I could write a novel.’’
Partners at that firm, including women, ranked women by their looks and told young women to ‘‘dress sexy’’ for clients and use sexuality to attract them to the firm, she said.
The Press spoke to two women who had worked with Wensley and were still working in the industry. Speaking anonymously for fear of the impact on their career, they confirmed Wensley’s accounts and her general description of the profession’s culture.
One of them, who worked at the ‘‘debaucherous’’ firm, said the running joke was that the hiring policy could be summed up as: ‘‘Is she hot?’’.
The woman said complaining to NZLS was a difficult process, which could take years and have no impact.
‘‘They seem to care more about protecting the perpetrator’s identity than the victim,’’ she said.
Wensley and the two women said NZLS’s response to the Russell McVeagh’s stories was disheartening.
‘‘They have minimised and deflected the claims and blamed alcohol, which is totally irrelevant,’’ Wensley said.
Putting the onus on victims to report offenders was ‘‘completely unrealistic’’ and the society should focus on seeking out the offenders instead.
She made suggestions on how to address the problem more efficiently, including creating an independent committee to formally investigate the issue, conducting an anonymous survey, establishing an anonymous tip-off service and carrying out random audits of human resource files.
NZLS did not respond to her suggestions and did not respond to a comment request from The Press.
Wellington Women Lawyers’ Association (WWLA) convenor Steph Dyhrberg said WWLA ‘‘and many other lawyers are not happy about the time it took for NZLS to respond strongly’’.
They were also unhappy about other responses focusing on the drinking culture.
‘‘Women drinking isn’t the problem. Predators are the problem. Law firms and the society being complacent is the problem. The traditional blokey culture, where bullying and harassment are tolerated or even rewarded, as long as the clients and the fees come in, is the biggest problem.’’
WWLA and other groups had been urging NZLS ‘‘to be more proactive and hold the profession to higher standards of conduct’’.
Last year they ‘‘pushed hard for the Gender Equality Charter to include sexual harassment and bullying’’ to no avail, Dyhrberg said.
‘‘It felt like the society was scared of rocking the boat. Frankly, when the boat is upside down, riddled with holes and on fire, it’s too late to bail.’’
She said WWLA was setting up a volunteer network of contact people to help lawyers with problems and was working on an anonymous profession-wide survey – work she believed NZLS should be doing.
●➤ In her #metoonz project, broadcaster Alison Mau will act as the first point of contact for people in New Zealand who want to have a voice, but don’t know where to go. She can be reached on her Facebook and Twitter accounts, via email at alison.mau@stuff.co.nz or on a private phone number – 027 839 4417. Making contact is completely confidential.