Australian Lawyers Weekly reports
There is much room for improvement when it comes to female representation in legal tech in Australia – particularly at the leadership level.
Women make up the majority of Australia’s legal profession in every state and territory, but – just as the number of female justices, judges, partners and equity partners is dwarfed by male numbers – there is underrepresentation in the country’s legal tech space.
Findings
The Australian Legal Technology Association (ALTA) – in partnership with PEXA and Alpha Creates – has published its Diversity in LegalTech – it’s time for action report, commissioned by Women of ALTA (WALTA), to engage legal industry stakeholders on female representation in Australia’s legal tech industry and how best to address underrepresentation.
The report found that just 21 per cent of Australia’s legal tech founders are women. This puts the nation roughly on par with much of the rest of the world (21 per cent in North America, 17 per cent in New Zealand, 16 per cent in Europe and 15 per cent in the UK), but we are lagging behind Africa (25 per cent) and Asia (30 per cent).
Highlighting the gender disparity for founders is that only 19 per cent of Australia’s funded legal tech companies have at least one female founder. “Funding, which is crucial to early-stage legal tech companies, is a critical roadblock for female founders,” the report said.
Read more at
