The Mallesons executive-team claiming a deserved victory regarding its recent naming as an EOWA Employer of Choice for Women is a bit like a bloke feigning “sporting interest” in mixed netball – it’s wrong and it’s dodgey.
But this didn’t stop the ballers media personnel from throwing a chest pass media release around on Monday in which a member of the firm’s executive team touted the firm’s women-at-work credentials. The Mallesons executive team, you’ll note, is entirely constituted by men and 78% of its partnership are male. These stats are apparently what prompted an anonymous Mallesons spy to send us the following comments on Monday:
As a woman at Mallesons, I had a good laugh about our firm’s media release out today (21.3) on its latest EOWA listing, given that our “Executive Team” (see MSJ website) is completely comprised of men! Not a woman in sight. Yes, there are a couple of women on the board and other internal roles (including the head of HR, no surprise) but we all know that the key decision making about the firm happens inside the Executive Team and there are no female perspectives being brought to the table. The only woman who has been on the Executive team during Robert Milliner’s years as CEO is Nicola Wakefield Evans – and she was pushed off the team by Milliner a year ago. Ironically she has just been named one of Australia’s 50 most influential women and now he is using her profile for promotion!! It just screams hypocrisy.
OBSTRUCTION!
We put that comment to Mallesons’ Chief Executive Partner Robert Milliner who, after acknowledging this was the first time FS had travelled from home court sought a comment from the firm, donned the goal-defence bib and stated:
We have nothing to hide about the fact that the firm makes changes to the leadership team from time to time as people and the firm’s needs change.
No word on whether Ms Wakefield Evans’ being placed out-of-play fell into the “people’s needs” basket or the “firm’s needs” basket. But just as we were starting to think it might fall into the FS “winning basket”, this blocking attempt came through from an official Mallesons spokesperson:
We invest in all our people and actively encourage and promote women in the workplace – that’s why we’ve been given the EOWA award for the 5th consecutive year. We were also proud and delighted that Nicola Wakefield Evans has been recognised as a leading influential business woman – that’s why we issued a press release about her recognition, and included it in our press release relating to our EOWA award – in the month when the firm also celebrated International Women’s Day. Nicola also features on our intranet so that all our staff are aware of her significant achievement.
To clarify, Nicola was appointed Managing Partner, International for a three year period from 2007 to 2010. When this period concluded she returned to full time practice and will also return to the Sydney office to take up a senior position in our successful M&A practice. We make changes to our Management Team from time to time, and this is not unusual for organisations that operate in challenging markets.
Suggesting that we are hypocritical for highlighting our EOWA award whilst not having significant female representation on our Executive Team is a cheap shot. At every level in the firm we encourage our women to thrive and succeed – 22% of the owners of the business are women. We have some of the leading lawyers in Australasia – many of them women.
Good pivot, but is this just a wing-defence posing as a goalie? Someone take a photo and send it to us. Whoops, don’t actually!
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I’m a guy and even I think claiming that 22% of your partners being female makes you cutting edge in equal opportunity employment, is crap. Calling a 0% executive representation comment a ‘cheap shot?’ Maybe we should ask some aspiring female lawyers if they think a 0% representation at the top is irrelevant.
The ‘official spokesperson’ is obviously a hr bullshitter – oh yeah, being expected to work horrendous hours late into the night is really great for having a young family
Just about the only big employers *not* included on the EOWA list this year are mining firms. It doesn’t really distinguish professional firms from one another because they all win it.
No e in dodgy, otherwise all good.
Journalistic integrity out the window: don’t fact check and stealing content…ummmmaaaaa
It’s ironic that the picture was taken from a men’s netball article, in fact the person pictured doesn’t even play mixed netball. That’s beside the point though, couldn’t the supposed business writer think of any better analogies, netball…. really?
I 100% agree with firmspy that male mixed netballers almost always play the game for the wrong reasons. Creep alert!