NEWS

Women at the New South Wales Bar the years to 1975

The WBF, with the support of the Bar Association, has produced a multimedia presentation about the pioneering women at the New South Wales Bar. View the presentation >

ABOUT US

The Women Barristers Forum is a section of the New South Wales Bar Association. It exists to:

  • promote awareness, discussion and resolution of issues which particularly affect women barristers;
  • identify, highlight and eradicate discrimination against women in law and in the legal system;
  • advance substantive, and not merely formal, equality for women at the bar and in the legal profession generally;
  • provide a professional and social network for women barristers;
  • support and encourage women at the bar;
  • promote the interests and skills of women barristers; and
  • support diversity and flexibility at the bar.

WBF works to achieve these goals by holding seminars, arranging networking functions and promoting the implementation of the Equitable Briefing Policy and other measures aimed at advancing women at the bar. Please refer to our News & Events page for latest developments and upcoming events.

WBF also seeks to work closely with the Equal Opportunity Committee of the New South Wales Bar Association and Women Lawyers Association of NSW.

Highlights in the WBF calendar include the annual Silks Drinks celebrating the achievements of women barristers elevated to senior counsel; lunches held in May and October each year to welcome new women barristers to the bar; informal drinks functions held semi-regularly; receptions hosted by the Federal Court of Australia for women barristers in 2010 and earlier in 2002 and the Women in Law Dinner hosted by WBF and The Women’s College at the University of Sydney biennially. 

We invite you to contact any member of the committee to provide us with feedback; suggestions as to how WBF can best promote women at the bar or offers of assistance or to inform us of any concerns you may have practising as a woman at the New South Wales Bar.

BACKGROUND

The genesis of the WBF was a function held in March 2002 to promote camaraderie amongst women at the bar and to forge links with solicitors, members of the bar and the judiciary. Over 200 members of the profession attended.  WBF was formally established in 2004 and became a section of the New South Wales Bar Association in 2007.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The WBF thanks Thomson Reuters for sponsoring its activities.
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