Like any sector, the legal profession is not immune from unacceptable workplace behaviour. How we’re treated at work, by our peers, our seniors, and even our clients, can be central to our personal and professional wellbeing.

About a month ago I was invited on ABC Radio in Sydney to talk about how the solicitor profession is dealing with issues of workplace safety around bullying and harassment.

I felt it was important to allay publicly apparent misapprehensions in the community that such behaviour runs unchecked in most law firms across the state with nothing done to deal with the problem.

True, the pressures of practising law are unique. The Law Society’s Constitution sets out our duty to the profession ‘to preserve and maintain its integrity and status; to suppress dishonourable conduct or practices;’ … and to consider and deal with all matters affecting the professional interests of Members’.

The best firms know that to attract and retain top legal talent, their workplaces need to offer positive career experiences. It’s just good for business. When there is occasion to report misconduct by those who either experience or witness it, the Elker Platform, managed by the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner, provides a secure, and where desired, anonymous means to be heard and supported.

Time running out for Golden Gavel legal comics

The Golden Gavel competition is one of the highlights of the year, but it’s nothing without those willing and brave enough to expose themselves to the intensity of stand-up comedy.

If you’re keen to subject yourself to the spotlight, you need to apply by this Thursday, 18 April. Do up a video of your funniest 500 words and get your entry in now.

If you’re keen for some laughs over brekky as a spectator, book here for the final at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney on Thursday, 30 May.

New Chief Judge of the NSW District Court

I sincerely congratulate Justice Sarah Huggett on her appointment as Chief Judge of the NSW District Court.

Justice Huggett brings an extraordinary breadth of experience to this role: more than a decade spent on the bench of the NSW District Court before joining the Supreme Court last year.

In addition to her outstanding history in criminal law as a solicitor, barrister and Crown Prosecutor, Justice Huggett has also been involved in diversionary and pioneering models of justice. She was a judge in the Walama List, a therapeutic and holistic approach to the sentencing of Indigenous offenders and was a chair of the Child Sexual Offence Evidence Program Steering Committee.

Justice Huggett will be the first woman Chief Judge of the NSW District Court. The increased diversity of the legal profession is pulling us into the future, and we are stronger for it. Both the NSW Local and District Courts have made great progress in recent years in achieving gender parity on the bench. I hope every young woman lawyer, with dreams of one day joining the bench, can look to this historic appointment as evidence that they too can reach the highest levels of law.

Brett McGrath, President, Law Society of NSW