1. What is MinterEllison's approach to inclusion and diversity?

MinterEllison has a longstanding commitment to progress gender equality and achieve gender parity. We are committed to the advancement of women to partnership, building the female talent pipeline, and embedding a culture that leverages working flexibly.

2. What are some examples of where we have met our commitment to gender equality?

Achieving gender equality is a key priority for MinterEllison and an issue I am committed to progressing. Every year, since 2013, we have increased the number of women promoted into senior roles. This year, 50% of our Partner promotions were women – a wonderful reflection on our female talent! As a firm, we monitor these statistics closely as the benefits of diversity, inclusion and gender equality are undeniable – diverse teams outperform in the market. I'm proud of our firm’s commitment to ensuring an inclusive workplace, which allows each of us to reach our full potential.

3. What are some external achievements that highlight our commitment to gender equality?

Every year since 2014, MinterEllison has received the WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation. This citation recognises organisations that have demonstrated an active commitment to gender equality in their workplace with a focus on removing the structural and cultural barriers that prevent the full participation of women at work. Earlier this year, we once again applied for the WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation for 2018.

4. What are some additional internal initiatives that have been implemented to recognise inclusion and diversity?

Over the last six months we have been working on building consistency between our internal workplace values and ambitions and how we present ourselves externally. As a result, we have developed guidelines to ensure that we implement commitments such as the Male Champions for Change CEO Panel Pledge, which MinterEllison adopted alongside many of our most significant client partners. The key elements of the panel pledge include: asking questions about the gender diversity of forums at which lawyers are invited to speak, and suggesting female alternatives when an entirely male panel is proposed. We strongly believe in showing our commitment to diversity in the way we present MinterEllison as a brand internally, and externally.

We recognise that having women in leadership is only one component of achieving gender equality. Our programs address the underlying issues impacting gender equality:

• addressing attitudes towards working flexibly through our Empower program
• supporting our caregivers by providing working parents programs, emergency childcare options as well as providing access to eldercare kits
• embedding robust recruitment, promotions and remuneration processes that address the potential impact of unconscious bias.

We have partnered with the Society of Women Leaders in their pilot corporate program, Standing on our Shoulders, to provide our women with the opportunity to work on a humanitarian project to build their leadership, and affect change in the global community.