Current reports estimate that 0.8% of lawyers in Australia identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, a statistic which has been static for a decade.[1] We acknowledge that the lack of First Nations lawyers arises from systemic disadvantage experienced by First Nations communities, and that many of these failings have been created or exacerbated by the legal profession. We recognise that, as members of the Australian legal community, we all have a responsibility to work to correct this.
We greatly value the unique contribution that First Nations employees have made to our firm, and we are committed to including First Nations candidates in our legal and support workforce at all levels of seniority. Since the last report, two First Nations identifying staff resigned from ABL. While we are disappointed to see First Nations identifying employees depart the firm, we are grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to their career journey and to have supported them. In turn they become important members of the Arnold Bloch Leibler alumni community, and we are committed to maintaining enduring relationships with them. A prime example of this is former ABL lawyer and Djab Wurrung man, Jidah Clark who was recently appointed as the CEO of the Treaty Authority overseeing treaty making in Victoria. The Authority is also supported by another recently appointed ABL alumnus, Alex Cuthbertson, who has joined the Treaty Authority as its inaugural General Counsel.
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We attract legal talent predominantly through our clerkship program which results in graduate offers for penultimate year law students. Over the past six years, there have been seven clerkship positions offered to First Nations students with six offered graduate positions and three accepting and commencing as graduates. Previously, we committed to interviewing all First Nations clerkship applicants. This year, we have gone further by reserving a seasonal clerkship position for a First Nations identifying law student. We have also dedicated a paralegal position to a First Nations identifying law student. We are in the process of hiring for these two positions at the time of writing.
We are also committed to developing relationships with First Nations student groups at universities in Victoria, ACT and New South Wales to build brand awareness with First Nations law students so they are aware of all the variety of legal practice experience our firm offers, and also of our public interest law work and our support in solidarity of First Nations peoples.
The AISN has convened a working group of interested volunteers who are currently working towards developing recommendations to the Partnership aimed at facilitating First Nations recruitment and retention within the firm. The working group will report on their progress in the 2025 report.
[1] 2020 National Profile of Solicitors (published in July 2021), URBIS, Law Society of New South Wales, page 11.