From Supergirl to Invisible Woman

Victorian Women Lawyers, Flexible Partnerships: Making it Work in Law Firms (2002).

Ewing Jill , Career Patterns of Law Graduates (1990), citing Hetherton Margaret , Victoria's Lawyers: The Second Report of a Research Project on ‘Lawyers in the Community’ (1981) 155. For an international perspective see Schultz Ulrike Shaw Gisela (eds), Women in the World's Legal Professions (2003).

See generally Ewing , above n 2; Law Society of Western Australia and Women Lawyers of Western Australia, Report on the Retention of Legal Practitioners (1999) Executive Summary.

See Manderson Desmond Turner Sarah , ‘Law Between the Global and the Local: Coffee House: Habitus and Performance Among Law Students’ (2006) 31 Law & Social Inquiry 649. Although appearing gender neutral, the ideal of the committed professional lawyer has reflected a person who is more commonly male than female

See Castan Melissa Paterson Jeannie Richardson Paul W. Watt Helen M. G. Dever Maryanne , ‘Early Optimism? First Year Law Students' Career Expectations and Aspirations’ (forthcoming).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Wald Eli , ‘Glass Ceilings and Dead Ends: Professional Ideologies, Gender Stereotypes and the Future of Women Lawyers at Large Law Firms’ (2010) 78 Fordham Law Review 101, 101.

A 2009 survey at Monash University found that nearly 60% of first year law students were women: see Castan , above n 5. See also Thornton Margaret Bagust Joanne , ‘The Gender Trap’ (2008) 45 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 773, 774 (citing 56% of law graduates as female).

Harrison Virginia , ‘Women Slide in Partnership Ranks’, The Australian (Sydney), 25 June 2010.

The Australian (Sydney), 4 December 2009 (reporting the findings of a survey funded by the Law Council of Australia).

Harrison , above n 10.

On the experience of women lawyers in the United States see also Wald Eli , above n 8.

A survey by the Law Institute of Victoria of law graduates who had discontinued working in legal practice, found that similar numbers of female and male ex-practitioners cited ‘lack of satisfaction’ as a reason for their decision to leave practice (59% and 63%) — see Ewing et al, above n 2, 34.

Easteal Patricia , Less than Equal: Women and the Australian Legal System (2001); Thornton Margaret , Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession (1991); and Law Society of New South Wales, After Ada – A New Precedent for Women in the Law (2002).

Thornton , above n 15, 1.

Thornton and Bagust, above n 9, 808–810.

See Bourke Juliet , Corporate Women, Children, Career and Workplace Culture: The Integration of Flexible Work Place Practices into the Legal and Finance Professions (2000) 311; Ewing , above n 2, 34; Law Society of WA and Women Lawyers of WA, above n 3; and O'Brien Timothy L , ‘Why do so Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms’ New York Times (New York), March 19, 2006.

Rhode Deborah L , Balanced Lives: Changing the Culture of Legal Practice (Commission on Women in the Profession, American Bar Association, 2001) at 19. See also Sommerlad Hilary Sanderson Peter , Gender Choice and Commitment: Women Solicitors in England and Wales and the Struggle for Equal Status (1998) 145.

MacKinnon Alison , Love and Freedom; Professional Women and the Reshaping of Personal Life (1997) 224. See also Bourke , above n 18; and Thornton , above n 15, 237–48.

See Dever Maryanne Paterson Jeannie , ‘Women and Careers’ (2005) Monash Magazine.

See Bourke , above n 18, 42.

In the survey, the birth of a child was cited as a reason for career interruption by 35% of females, as compared to 1% of males; childcare was cited by 24% of females, as compared to 1% of males. It also found at that time women lawyers were more likely than males to be very involved in the care of children (94% females; 22% males) – see Ewing et al, above n 2, 2. Also see Keys Young, Victorian Women Lawyers, Flexible Partnerships: Making it Work in Law Firms (2002); and Lyn Craig, ‘Does Father Care Mean Fathers Share? A Comparison of How Mothers and Fathers in Intact Families Spend Time with Children’ (2006) 20 Gender and Society 259.

For example see ‘Women Rank High in Partnership Promotions’ The New Lawyer, 10 June 2010 <thenewlawyer.com.au/article/Women-rank-high-in-partnership-promotions/518707.aspx> at 21 June 2010, and the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (‘EOWA’) <eowa.gov.au/Information_Centres/Resource_Centre/EOWA_Publications.asp> at 21 June 2010. The under-representation of women in legal practice deprives the law firms of a significant cohort of legal practitioners … [and] also means a smaller pool from which to draw judges and other leading members of the legal community.

Victorian Women Lawyers, A Snapshot of Employment Practices 2001: A Survey of Victorian Law Firms (2001) 5 (41 firms of varying size surveyed). See also Law Society of NSW, Family Responsibilities Study (1998) (reporting working hours of 60 – 80 hours per week).

See, eg, Hogan-Doran Dominique , ‘New Practices Create New Opportunities for Women in the Law’ 37(2) (1999) Law Society Journal 72 (reporting on a part time litigation partner who works 30 hours a week in addition to being available full time by telephone and fax machine (sic)).

Thornton Bagust , above n 9, 778.

Ibid 776.

Ibid 775–6.

See Bourke , above n 18, 56; and Thornton Bagust , above n 9.

Victorian Women Lawyers, A 360° Review: Flexible Work Practices (2005) 5.

Ibid 19.

Ibid.

Victorian Women Lawyers, Flexible Partnerships: Making it Work in Law Firms (2002) 20.

See Woodger Annie , ‘The Cost of Turnover in Law Firms’ (1998) Law Institute Journal 134–36; and Beaton-Wells Michael , ‘Implications of the Invisible Costs of Solicitor Turnover’ (1998) Law Institute Journal 37–39.

See, eg, Merritt Chris , ‘Gender Balance is Good Business’, The Australian (Sydney), 25 June 2010 (reporting Norton Rose partner Don Boyd as saying ‘the growing presence of women lawyers among corporate clients meant an increase in the number of women partners would have a beneficial impact on the firm's bottom line’).

See, eg, Affairs Legal , ‘The Firms Where Women Do Well’, The Australian (Sydney), 25 June 2010.

See Ewing , above n 2, 50.

Thornton Bagust , above n 9, 811 (noting an increasing turning away from a feminist curriculum in universities).

See also comments on medical practice in Dever and Paterson, above n 21.