Hall & Wilcox Gender Pay Gap statement

At Hall & Wilcox our purpose is to enable our people to thrive. Our culture is shaped by our Hallmarks, which guide how our people behave and work every day.

As a large national law firm, we recognise that we have an important role to play in achieving gender equality within the legal profession. We are committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive workplace where all individuals are valued, rewarded and compensated fairly for the work they do.

Our gender pay gap

The WGEA gender pay gap (GPG) analysis covers the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

• Median total remuneration: 8.9% compared with an Industry Comparison Group of 17.1%
• Average total remuneration: 12.9% compared with an Industry Comparison Group of 16.2%
• We have a 70% employee female workforce
• 77% of our employee management roles are undertaken by females

Gender pay gap factors

Women outnumber their male counterparts in many areas of the legal profession; however, the senior leadership roles in law firms are often dominated by males.

We recognise that more men need to be encouraged into female-dominated roles and into the utilisation of parental leave to benefit gender equality for everyone.

We ensure our people are recognised for their positive contribution and have opportunities to develop their careers across all life stages by supporting our people with the flexibility they require, while still thriving in our firm.

Our commitment to progress

We are proud of the work undertaken and achievements to date, including a significant reduction in the GPG since we commenced measurement. However, there remains a significant gender pay gap and closing this gap must remain a high priority.

Despite women outnumbering their male counterparts in every area of the legal profession, the senior leadership roles in law firms are often dominated by males. This is consistent with the gender balance among senior partner and practice/section leader roles at Hall & Wilcox.

We are committed to supporting the progression of women through the partnership into senior management roles. Internally, we run a gender pay gap analysis for partners and employees.

A significant contributor towards the gender pay gap is the makeup of the legal administration and support roles, such as legal assistant, paralegal and service clerks, which are dominated by females. Having female employees dominate these functions results in lower average pay of female population at the firm level.

Hall & Wilcox tracks the GPG on a regular basis (monthly and annually) and acts to continually improve the GPG. Hall & Wilcox has strategies in place to reduce the GPG by focusing on stages in the employment cycle where remuneration is under consideration, including as part of the hiring process, and as part of the annual remuneration review and on promotion.

Our actions

We are committed to supporting the progression of women into partnership, and senior management, and ensuring female representation at board level. We are actively working towards, and in some cases surpassing, our gender targets for 2025:

• >40% female representation in the national partnership by 2025 (we expect to achieve this by July 2024).
• >40% among our elected Board members – this is being met.
• >40% among our Corporate Services Heads.

Other actions include:

• We conduct regular gender pay equity analysis, review promotions, and pay rises annually to ensure no gender bias.
• We blind review graduate CVs to ensure there is no gender bias at the recruitment stage.
• We offer paid parental leave up to 26 weeks.
• We offer paid fertility and pregnancy loss leave.
• We offer superannuation on paid parental leave.
• Our HW Evolve approach encourages flexible working in a hybrid workplace (remotely and in the office), allowing our people the flexibility to manage their work and home lives.
• We run a highly regarded Women in Leadership program and provide mentoring across the firm.
• We endorse the Law Council of Australia’s Gender Equitable Briefing Policy.
• We are a signatory to the Law Society of NSW and the Law Institute of Victoria’s Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession.
• We fund Women Lawyer Association memberships nationally for women, non-binary lawyers, and men (as allies).
• We maintain the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Employer of Choice for Gender Equality Citation.

We recognise that overcoming the barriers standing in the way of a more equal workplace will take time and persistence. We are confident we have the right plan to drive this change now and into the future. We remain steadfast in our commitment to accelerate the pace of change and are confident we have the right plan to ensure a more equitable future for our people and our profession.