Australia has the same number of female and male solicitors. In fact, in 2018, there were more recorded female than male solicitors practicing in Australia. However, this statistic does not reveal the imbalance in the representation of classes across the legal profession. Not many in the legal profession truly know what it means to live below the poverty line or deal with the stressors in life which come with this.

While in recent years there has been a conscious effort to tackle gender and race bias in the legal profession, there has not been a similar effort to conquer class-based discrimination and unconscious bias. This comes with many middle to top-tier firms requiring prospective employees to have a ‘polished’ background, alluding to a middle-upper class upbringing.

In 2020, the ATAR to get into UNSW Law was 99.50. The ATAR to get into UOW Law was slightly more achievable, at 92. It is a well-known fact that the highest ATAR rankings are attained by the most prestigious Sydney private schools. So, for those aspiring law students from low socio-economic backgrounds, without early admission schemes based on High School marks and students’ background, it is unlikely that the profession would see much class diversity.

Lack of diversity has rippling effects, such as values held by the profession as a whole, such as access to justice and lawyer-client relationships.

We are grateful to have a diverse team at Banga Legal and hope to see more of this in the future!