The Awards Ceremony
CEP McDonough’s perceived misogyny – the criteria for victory – was of the highest order. He defeated two other nominees to take out the gong, but the competition was fierce. We contacted the Hon. Dr Meredith Burgmann – a former NSW Parliamentarian, current Councillor for the City of Sydney and the genius behind the Ernie Awards – to get the scoop.
The Hon. Dr Burgmann responded:
Hi Spy
Other judicial noms were
- Qld Magistrate Greg McIntyre for writing in his newsletter a joke where the young guy asks the girl he is dancing with “Can I smell your vagina” and when she says no he says “Oh then it must be your feet”; [and]
- Barrister George Thomas making a bail application for his client to get married. “What I can’t understand is why a fellow would want to get out of jail to get married which is a life sentence anyway”
Oh, the judicial pigs!
But Magistrate McIntyre and Barrister George Thomas were outpigged by Darryl McDonough. The Clayton Utz figurehead won the award for making the following comment, attempting to explain why his firm has only 20% female partners:
“Certainly they are all females but each of them are extremely competent lawyers”
The Ernie Awards
The Ernie Awards are an Australian award for comments judged to be misogynist. The name “Ernie” is drawn from the former AWU secretary – and notorious chauvinist – Ernie Ecob who once remarked:
Women aren’t welcome in the shearing sheds. They’re only after the sex.
Hence the sheep on top of the Gold Ernie. The awards ceremony is held each year over a dinner, attended by several hundred women, who are charged with a very important function: deciding the the Ernie victors. But how is consensus reached among such a large group, you ask? Quite simply: the winner of each category is determined by the person who receives the most booing when their sexist statement or action is read out.
We understand that it was to decidedly raucous boos that the victor of the Silver Ernie – Judicial was decided.
The Judicial Ernie Hall of Shame
Dazza joins some extremely illustrious company in winning this year’s award. He’ll now sit snugly beside:
- Retired Judge Roddy Meagher who won the award for remarking in 2003 ’Looking at the shrivelled old parsnip Germaine Greer has now become, I can hardly believe she was the comparatively beautiful young woman I once knew.’;
- An unnamed Magistrate who wrote in response to a 1999 survey about domestic violence and apprehended violence orders, “hallelujah, women cause a lot of problems by nagging, bitching, and emotionally hurting men. Men cannot bitch back for hormonal reasons and often have no recourse but violence”;
- Lawyer Chrisovalantis Papadopoulos who won the award in 2006 for saying a rape was only brief and “at the very bottom of the scale of seriousness”; and
- Melbourne barrister Paul Reynolds, who had his practising certificate suspended for six months in 2004 after he asked a client for sex during a pre-hearing conference in her home. The client complained to the legal services regulator and barrister Reynolds’ behaviour became the subject of a hearing at the Legal Profession Tribunal. In an agreed statement of facts between the parties presented to the Tribunal it was revealed that after Mr Reynolds gave his client a goodnight hug – which she initially did not object to – the woman told him she was “not interested” when he started to move his hand down her shoulder. While Mr Reynolds did not lift the woman’s clothing or touch her breasts, he asked to “just let me feel those puppies then, they’re beautiful”.
Does anyone at your firm deserve an Ernie? Let us know in the comments.
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I’ve heard of condescension by a male Clutz partner, not only to his own female staff, but also to female lawyers from other firms at social and networking events. Nobody can figure out whether he’s a misogynist or just an over-competitive dickhead.
Unfortunately a sad few dinosaurs give Clutz its reputation AND try their best to infect the next generation with their ignorance.
yep I’ve been to meetings where the only thing the Clayton Utz partner involved looked at was my chest (in between picking his nose)… charmer
“While Mr Reynolds did not lift the woman’s clothing or touch her breasts, he asked to “just let me feel those puppies then, they’re beautiful”.
Ha ha. What a champ!
@Anon,
“yep I’ve been to meetings where the only thing the Clayton Utz partner involved looked at was my chest (in between picking his nose)… charmer”
Do you mean mammary glands?
The other nominees were clearly making jokes. The first (can I smell…) is just crass. The second has been going around so long that it is just lame.
I don’t really get what the winner was on about. Is he saying that they are females, but the more important thing is that they are extremely competent lawyers? If that’s the case then what is the problem (other than that he hasn’t answered the question)?
http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/blogs/top_stories/archive/2011/06/28/clutz-promotes-only-women-to-partnership.aspx
Appoint 6 male partners and no female partners in June 2010
Appoint two male partners in May 2011
Appoint three female partners in June 2011
Having appointed male partners a month earlier than female partners, sell media a story about how you have “promoted only women to partnership”
= Transparent and desperate PR
Stuart Pill and Dan Trindade will join the top-tier firm as partners in the Melbourne office, along with their team of five lawyers and support staff. May 2011
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/trindade-fear-pill-closes-its-doors/story-fn6s5d0v-1226053338097
http://www.claytonutz.com/publications/news/201003/01/new_partner_appointments_reflect_depth_of_talent_at_clayton_utz.page
@Nasty Cyril – I think it was the fact that he used the word “but”. Eg you wouldn’t say “Yes they are all male, but they are all extremely competent lawyers”. It tends to suggest that there is something surprising about them being both female and good lawyers.
I think he was trying to say that they were appointed on merit, not because of gender, but it came out a bit wrong. Still, rather embarassing to have won the award for it, particularly given they lost their Employer of Choice of Women status in 2010 and the Bridgette Styles litigation…
I wonder if “Context” is someone from the Clutz PR department?
How ridiculously precious of those that were offended. He was clearly trying to respond to a question about gender by saying that gender had no part in the decision making process – that they were made partner because they were extremely competent lawyers. It seems rather petty that he could be lambasted for being quoted out of context.
Certainly they are all women but I’m sure that each of them were not so precious…
“yep I’ve been to meetings where the only thing the Clayton Utz partner involved looked at was my chest (in between picking his nose)… charmer”
Well…….thats what us blokes sort of do. No amount of femmo propoganda is going to change that.
Nothing wrong with a good old nose pick either…….
Gay male here and even I can’t help but accidentally look sometimes. Men are men. If you look good, own it. It’s not always a chauvinist thing.
Now picking your nose = classless