Bullying
& Sexual
Harassment The scale of the problem facing the legal profession
Kieran Pender, a Legal Advisor in the IBA’s Legal Policy & Research Unit who has been leading the project, spoke to Modern Law, reflecting on the survey and its implications for the legal profession worldwide.
In 2018, the International Bar Association (IBA) launched a global survey into bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession. In May this year, a report detailing the results of this survey will be released. This important research confirms what many have long known—that the legal profession has a problem with bullying and sexual harassment. The survey builds on the IBA’s 2017 Women in Commercial Legal Practice report, which investigated the reasons female lawyers are leaving law firms and the profession. The findings of that survey,
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drawn from the responses of almost 6,000 lawyers globally, found that one in two female respondents had been bullied at work and one in three had been sexually harassed. Among male lawyers, one in three reported that they had been bullied in connection with their employment. The IBA’s current survey has gathered more targeted data on the nature and prevalence of bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession, and its impact on both victims and workplaces.