Earlier this year we released a Statement on our approach to addressing sexual harassment in Victoria’s legal profession. We announced we would be undertaking work to quantify and look at organisational responses to this issue.

Today, we have launched a state-wide survey to look at the prevalence and nature of sexual harassment in Victoria’s legal workplaces.

The survey is open to current and former Victorian lawyers, non-lawyers who have worked or are working in Victoria’s legal workplaces (e.g. administrative staff, legal assistants and law students), and both current and former clients of Victorian lawyers.

All Victorian lawyers who hold a current practising certificate will be sent an email containing a unique link to the survey. Lawyers who do not have a current practising certificate, non-legal staff and former staff of legal workplaces, and legal clients can access the ‘open’ link to the survey here.

The survey will take around 15 minutes of your time. We urge you to take the time to complete it, and encourage your peers and networks to participate.

A separate survey was emailed to law practice principals last week. This survey is designed to help us understand the training, policies and processes Victoria’s legal workplaces have established to prevent and manage sexual harassment.

Both surveys will be key to helping us to gain an accurate and comprehensive understanding of sexual harassment in our profession so we can tackle the issue effectively. Both surveys are anonymous and strictly confidential, conducted on our behalf by leading market research firm Ipsos.

If you have any questions, or would like more information about these surveys, please call us on 03 9679 8001.

If you wish to discuss a matter confidentially, or make a complaint relating to sexual harassment by a lawyer, please:

• call us on (03) 9679 8001 and ask to talk to a member of the Sexual Harassment Complaints Team, or
• email harassmentcomplaints@lsbc.vic.gov.au, or
• send mail addressed to the Sexual Harassment Complaints Team, Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner, GPO Box 492, Melbourne VIC 3001.