Diversity at Gilbert + Tobin

I think G+T is committed to diversity from a gender perspective, however there is not much representation in terms of ethnic minorities and LGBTIQA+ community. G+T's maternity leave policy is great with 6 months full pay.

G+T takes diversity, equity and inclusion seriously from the top down. We have a partner and employee led Diversity Council including Cultural + Social Inclusion, Disability + Accessibility, First Nations, Gender and LGBTQI+ working groups. Diversity and Inclusion training is provided to all new employees as part of the onboarding process.

Lots of subcommittees filled with lots of genuinely great and caring people

I think there is a genuine commitment to diversity at our firm. We have one of, if not the highest female partnership rates for all big law firms in Australia. There has also been very flexible accommodations made for mums returning from parental leave, working on a 3-4 work day week. Many LGBTIQA+ initiatives are brought into the firm and there is the opportunity to be involved with learning sessions or activities to build knowledge and awareness of issues in the LGBTIQA+ community.

I know they work do a lot of work on these areas but don't know too many specifics

We have a diversity council who are working to develop tangible and actual solutions to make changes in the organization. this has already been seen with gender

Good in terms of women and LGBTIQA+, not so much ethnic minorities but I think that reflects law school.

Varies from team to team.

G+T does well to hire fairly diversely, but it could improve in terms of how partners and senior lawyers interact with lawyers of a CALD background. This is something that varies from team to team, but in my experience it’s most evidenced in social scenarios, where CALD lawyers may experience a sense of being unintentionally ‘othered’ or having their cultural background be a recurring fixture for conversation.

The firm has achieved about 45% women in partnership. There are Diversity and Inclusion working groups which focus on different areas of diversity. There is a need to focus on meeting the needs of working parents at the firm, there is low retention of this demographic given the time and resourcing constraints required by the firm.

Can be tokenistic

The firm is moving at the right direction and has started various initiatives to promote diversity.

I believe that my company is committed to diversity in recruitment.

It is very gender diverse and this is represented in the female partnership at the firm. Ethnic diversity is also relatively good, but this differs across the teams. A few diversity committees exist, but this is not something which I have noticed as being commonly promoted.

Although there are a large number of diverse people within the firm, there are not many within leadership / partnership and this can be improved.

The firm approached diversity positively with many different groups focused on improving different areas. The particular focus on Indigenous Australians is impressive

I think this is a gap in the Perth office. There is a mixture of people that identify as LGBTQI+ and the gender split is somewhat even where we fall down is that we have little to no people of colour (POC) in the office. POC are subject to challenges that I will never understand but I think it is important to listen and give POC a place in the legal profession especially at somewhere like G+T that is progressive.

G+T is pragmatic about adhering to its messaging of inclusivity in the workplace. This applies to its relevant policies.

Strong commitment to all aspects of diversity.

Great re LGBTI, lots of women, commitment to indigenous Australians.

Cadetship program for Indigenous university students

Not sure. It would be good to know there is some sort of unconscious bias training/blind applicant reviewing, as well as particular spots and positive discrimination, for recruitment to ensure we are not just picking people from privileged positions.

The firm hires in very wide reaching ways, which can be through cadet programs, or by going outside the linear clerk process to find the right people

Indigenous cadetships

G+T works with Telstra to create and support legal internships for indigenous graduates (among other initiatives).

Strong focus on aboriginal cadetships.

The firm has engaged in a mentoring program at disadvantaged schools, and part of that is showing them that they can aspire to more than they thought they could.

Cadets, mentoring programs, targeted recruitment programs

It has an Indigenous person?s cadet program.

We have a cadetship programme for Indigenous university students

Has a dedicated indigenous cadet program