THE newly appointed president of the ACT Bar Association wants to encourage more women to pursue a career at the bar. 

The first female president in the bar association’s 58-year history, Rebecca Curran, points to the parity of the men and women graduating with law degrees, yet the number of females practising at the bar still trails well behind their male counterparts.

“Women are largely under-represented as barristers… statistically, for many years it was less than 10 per cent,” said Curran, 53.

“There are certainly more women qualifying as solicitors but the statistics show there are not more qualifying as barristers.”

Of the 93 barristers in the ACT, 22 were female, of which 14 were at the private bar, and eight held a government practising certificate, Curran said.

“It’s less than 25 per cent – which is actually very good – and isn’t that a terrible thing to say in 2022 especially when you look back at the law schools and the rate of graduation is 50/50 or even a little bit in favour of women,” said Curran.

A barrister of 10 years, Curran attributed the gender imbalance in bar representation to a number of key factors including the loss of many senior female barristers to judicial appointments.

The mother-of-four argued that while the private bar is a “wonderful” career opportunity you are largely self-employed and, as such, the profession did not have the full range of maternity leave arrangements available elsewhere.

“I speak to a number of young women and say, ‘come to the bar, it’s fabulous’. But for young women, the security of employment, sick leave and taking paid parental leave when you need it is a very real impediment,” she said.

She said she was not prepared to settle for such a low female representation at the bar, and wanted to continue the work the association was doing to improve representation.

“In our strategic plan there are three things we are trying to achieve; first is excellence in our advocacy, second is having a voice with the media, court and government, and third is to deal with the issues of the lack of diversity and gender balance,” she said.

Curran was also seeking to broaden the representation of people practising at the bar to include greater numbers from culturally diverse backgrounds.

“There is an under-representation of people from cultural backgrounds and that reflects on the kinds of people who have the capacity, the financial backing, confidence and experience to become a barrister,” she said.

“We want to make it more accessible as a real career option so that young lawyers see themselves at the bar.”

Growing up in northern NSW in a farming family with no legal connection, Curran was encouraged to pursue a career in law while at school in Armidale.

“I had a wonderful teacher called Brother Fred Sheridan who said, ‘what do you want to do?’ and I said maybe I should be a teacher and he said, ‘why don’t you apply for law?’,” she said.

“So I did. I got into law at the ANU and I loved it.”

Curran was inspired by the encouragement she received while at school, later from judges she worked for as an associate, and then as a registrar in the family court in Brisbane.

“At the Family Court I was working with a couple of wonderful judges Michael Kent and Peter Murphy – who are now retired – and they both encouraged me to do the bar exams,” she said.

“I had just had my fourth child and was unsure if the time was right and Michael said, ‘the time is never right, just do it’.”

Before joining the bar in 2012, Curran was in private practice in Canberra and Brisbane, and was a deputy registrar of the Family Court of Australia. 

Like most working mums, she had to juggle her legal career while raising a family – in her case, made all the more difficult by the tragic loss of her husband John seven years ago.

“I wouldn’t have gotten through that time without such a wonderful and supportive group,” she said.