From maternity to eternity

Kerry Little describes how Australian law firm Deacons is building a policy framework for equality to create a lasting environment for gender diversity.

Australia has shifted a long way from its ‘blokey’ culture, mercilessly lampooned by Barry Humphries’ alter-ego Sir Les Patterson and the stereotype reinforced by Paul Hogan who invited people to come to Australia to “put another shrimp on the barbie” and then seduced the movie-going world as Mick Dundee, larrikin crocodile hunter. Modern Australia is less macho, more sophisticated, with a business environment that fosters and encourages gender equality. Or is it?
In Australia, the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s saw equal opportunity for women comprehensively enshrined in law. Equal-pay provisions were phased into federal and state awards, employment restrictions were lifted on married women, and paid maternity leave was introduced for public sector employees. This period of legislative reform culminated in the passing of the Federal Sex Discrimination Act in 1984 and the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act in 19861.
Australia now has significantly more female university graduates than male. In 2007, 56 per cent of all law graduates were women, and currently 38 per cent of all practising lawyers are women. These statistics give the impression of a more feminised Australia, where ‘blokey’ men have retired to a cultural time capsule buried sometime around 1985. How then can you explain the result of a recent survey conducted by Dr Hannah Piterman entitled The Leadership Challenge, Women in Management, that found that within Australia, women currently represent 12 per cent of Australian Securities Exchange 200 (ASX200) executive managers and just five women have been appointed to chief executive level in ASX200 companies since 2004?

Women at Deacons
In the legal profession, the higher up the promotional ladder you look the fewer women you will find. Approximately 15 per cent of partners in major commercial law firms are women. At Deacons, a top-ten Australian law firm, close to 19 per cent of its partners are female, and women hold two out of eight board positions. The number of female graduates who joined the firm increased in 2008 to 83 per cent, an optimistic indicator that female representation at the firm will grow in the years to come. Deacons’ chief executive partner, Don Boyd, expects to see the number of women leaders in the firm increase.
“We have to overcome the current blockage,” he says. “It is most important to establish really strong mentoring arrangements that allow younger women to gain experience from role-model mentors. They need to see that they don’t have to compete in the same way men compete – they can be themselves and still progress.”
“We have seen the benefit of high-profile mentoring to different partners at the firm,” he added. “It helps give young women confidence that they can get through to partnership.”
Elizabeth Hallett, who joined a predecessor firm of Deacons as an articled clerk in 1983 and is now head of its corporate and commercial business unit and a member of Deacons’ Executive Committee, confirms the importance of mentoring as a strategy to attract and retain strong female lawyers.
“We need to provide mentoring and good role models they can identify with, and ensure that they understand the career paths available,” she says. “We also need to provide flexibility to women lawyers while they are having children.”
She is adamant that while Deacons hasn’t got their diversity programme completely right, the firm’s leaders understand the issues and are passionate about getting it right. And she dismisses the old excuse that clients prefer dealing with men, describing it as nonsense. “Perhaps it was once the case but many women have left private practice and gone into corporate counsel so if you are not offering female partners and female lawyers then you are potentially missing out on that social connector,” she says.

Diversity initiatives at Deacons
Deacons has a formal framework to encourage diversity in the firm including a board sub-committee ‘Women at Deacons’ lead by partner and board members Sally Macindoe and Adrian Ahern, and Deacons Women’s Forums which meet regularly in each Deacons’ office (see Box 1).
Boyd points to a Deacons’ programme which identifies the future leaders of the firm (male and female) as they are coming through the ranks me as an important lever for equality. “This programme offers an opportunity to identify female leaders and assist them in their growth towards attaining partnership,” he says. “Our four female partners (out of a total ten) last year were identified this way and nurtured to partnership.”
Perhaps the most meaningful and measurable incentive to reward diversity comes from the firm’s partner remuneration model where just 50 per cent of a partner’s remuneration is linked to financial results, with the remaining 50 percent made up of non-direct financial measures such as business development, team contribution and mentoring and coaching. Boyd points to this, and the fact that increasing the number of female participation in the leadership of the firm is a key performance indicator (KPI) for himself and the executive committee, as major factors contributing to the higher number of female partners each year.
“This is discussed at board level, it’s in the firm’s strategic plan which is board sponsored and it is one of my personal KPIs. We have a set KPI to have at least 20 per cent of female partners by 2010 which undoubtedly we will achieve. It’s a metric we hope to out-perform,” he says.
Abigail McGregor, a Deacons’ partner who is a convener at one of the firm’s Women’s Forums, says there are two main issues relating to flexible work practices, policy and uptake. “Having appropriate policies is only the first step. You also need to develop a culture that accepts flexible work practices. They need to be taken up by lawyers of both genders so the policies are not there in name only,” she explains. “It would be more helpful if men availed themselves of flexible work practices. We need to see high-profile successful partners use these work practices. At the moment it’s mostly junior female partners and junior female employees.”
“Increasingly our clients are female in-house counsel. The perception is that corporations are further advanced in accepting flexible work practices and therefore attract female lawyers,” McGregor added.
Deacons’ board member Sally Macindoe was promoted to the partnership while working flexible hours, and says the need for flexibility has never held her back.
She has two sons, aged nine and 11, and during both periods of maternity leave she came back in stages; first two days, then three, then four. She recalls that after the birth of her second child she returned to work earlier and would express milk while in the office and arrange for a courier to take it to the crèche nearby. She feels four days in the office works best for her, and works from home on Wednesdays with one hand on the washing machine: “I need a regular opportunity to be at school for drop-off and pick-up and interaction with the school community,” she says.
Macindoe co-chairs a board subcommittee formed a number of years ago with the aim of increasing the percentage of women in the partnership. At that time there was just nine per cent of female partners in the firm in 2005. This has more than doubled. The sub committee meets on an ‘as needs’ basis, however female representation in the partnership is a standing item. The committee reports quarterly to the board which has endorsed higher representation of women partners as part of the firm’s 2010 strategic plan.
“I’ve never found any resentment from any of my partners or lawyers in our team regarding my flexibility. Flexible work hours make you a better delegator,” she asserts.
There will be increasing pressure in the future to offer partnerships to women lawyers, the statistics bear this out. Macindoe points out that the number of female lawyers is statistically higher: 83 per cent of graduates at Deacons in 2008 were female, 53 percent of Deacons’ senior associates are women and 60 per cent of its lawyers are women. “It’s now front of mind when women look at the firm, and our Equal Opportunity in the Work Place status is something women look for,” she says. “Flexibility is now part of the mix, along with remuneration. It’s a major consideration.”
Macindoe believes there is a difference between working flexibility and working part time. “If you are serious about having a professional career then you have to be flexible,” she explains. “This is more difficult when children are small, however it’s important to be open and transparent about the way you work with your clients. Clients are respectful of the arrangements once they know about them.”
Macindoe, a specialist planning litigator, is dismissive of people who say it’s impossible for litigators to work flexible hours. “That’s rubbish. There are challenges for certain types of work at certain times. If you are working on an M&A deal and it has to complete in 48 hours then that’s pretty difficult, but not everything is impossible.”
Boyd is also very supportive of flexible work hours, and believes it not only helps the lawyers who need to balance work and home commitments, but offers enduring benefits to the firm.
“Once the law firm has worked hard perfecting the strategies and framework for diversity, it’s evident that women are incredibly loyal partners,” he says. “They don’t change firms as lightly as men seem to. Women who work three or four days a week work very hard. This is enormously beneficial for the stability of the firm.”
He also believes that for diversity to be inclusive it can’t be seen as a human resources (HR) role. “HR may manage some administrative processes, but we’ve found that if the strategy isn’t driven from the top then it doesn’t happen,” Boyd explains. The change needs to be cultural, adds Macindoe. “At Deacons, we’re coming along; the statistics alone are good feedback. It’s an ongoing challenge, a flexible work policy is hard to frame when demands are increasing but our parental leave policy (three-months paid up front) is outstanding”.

Box 1: Deacons' Women's Forums
Deacons’ Women’s Forums meet regularly to discuss issues that relate specifically to women lawyers and their work environment. The group has a website that provides information about women at the firm, including special networking events and the opportunities available to them. The site gives profiles and contact details of Deacons’ women partners, special counsel and preferred women barristers, training, development and networking opportunities for women co-workers, policies and procedures that are relevant to women at Deacons, plus links to a range of useful websites.
Deacons Women’s Forum started in Melbourne in 2001 to help women progress through the firm and provide input to the firm on policies and practices and how they are applied, including flexible work practices and policies. It is now in all of the firm’s Australian offices.
Melbourne forum convener and firm partner, Abigail McGregor, cites the recent amendments to the firm’s parental leave policy as an example of how the forums can help shape policy. “Formerly the policy offered six weeks pay at the start of maternity leave, and six weeks pay on return to work,” she explains. “The firm sought the forum’s input on the policy and ultimately introduced a 12-weeks up front parental leave payment.”
The Women’s Forum meets in each office. In Melbourne, it holds a flagship event each year during Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival, a premier breakfast for 100-150 female clients. “Our female clients might not want to go to the football and sit in a corporate box, a popular corporate entertaining venue. Our female lawyers might not want to go either,” McGregor notes.
They also celebrate International Women’s Day with a cocktail party. These functions offer networking opportunities to women which may otherwise be more difficult to obtain. The forums also provide an outlet for female networking and encourage debate within the firm.
“It’s a good opportunity to meet other women in the firm and a good opportunity to mentor junior women. And an opportunity to engage – not everyone in the firm gets asked what they think of the policies of the firm,” McGregor says.

Kerry Little is the principal of Chill Communications, a Sydney based writing and communications consultancy. She can be contacted at kerrylittle@chillcommunications.com.au

References

http://www.ofw.facs.gov.au/publications/women_management/p3.htm (accessed 20/8/08)