Risk Management: Bullying and Sexual Harassment in Legal Workplaces

Course Description

In 2019, the International Bar Association (IBA) published Us Too? Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession. The landmark report, which drew on a survey of 7,000 lawyers from 135 countries, revealed that inappropriate behaviour is prevalent within legal workplaces. It found that one in three female lawyers had been sexually harassed, while one in two female lawyers and one in three male lawyers had been bullied at work. In a profession founded on the highest ethical standards, this is unacceptable. How can individuals, workplaces and the profession collectively do better? Kieran Pender – author of the Us Too? report and leader of the IBA’s subsequent 18-month campaign to drive positive change – discusses the findings and recommendations of the report and key insights from the campaign. He provides practical guidance for workplaces seeking to prevent and more effectively respond to bullying and sexual harassment.

Kieran is a senior legal advisor with the International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy and Research Unit, and a Visiting Fellow at The Australian National University (ANU) Centre for International and Public Law. He has led the IBA’s work on diversity and inclusion in legal workplaces, and is the author of Us Too? Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession (2019). Kieran is also a freelance journalist and has reported from across the globe for The Guardian.