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How law firms can manage office romances: Part two
While the capacity of and necessity for a law firm to intervene in an office romance will ultimately depend on the nature of that relationship, there are a handful of legislative considerations that a firm should also take into account, particularly to prevent sexual harassment or other misconduct.
Jerome Doraisamy
Romance within law firms can be commonplace, according to McDonald Murholme principal Andrew Jewell, because lawyers spend a lot of time at work, thereby spending that time with fellow lawyers. Most of us have heard stories about people meeting their partners in the course of their legal work, he said.
How and when a law firm should step in, in the context of an office romance, he said, will depend on any client issues posed by that relationship, impacts on the workplace environment, or in cases of a power imbalance.
In this second half of Lawyers Weekly’s conversation with Mr Jewell – which first appeared on The Lawyers Weekly Show – he outlines three areas of legislation that law firms should factor in when dealing with office romances.
“First and foremost, every employer owes their employee a safe working environment. If you see there’s an issue, I think it actually is up to the employer or the firm to step in and say, ‘Are you okay? Is there anything we can do to assist?’,” he said.
“For every employee, there has to be a safe working environment. So, if the firm thinks that a relationship is making this environment not a safe working environment, they’ve got to step in.”
There is also a sexual harassment legislation, which is a bit tricky, he noted, because sexual harassment inherently is unwanted sexual conduct.
“So, again, firms need to be very careful to make sure that everyone in these relationships are in them willingly. That could be quite a messy area, but sexual harassment legislation has some work to do in this space.”
And then, thirdly, there is a tension between those legislative protections and then the prohibition of discrimination against lawful sexual activities, he explained.
“I don’t believe in policies banning sexual relationships, I actually think that they are probably unlawful. A policy which says that you can’t have a relationship with someone who works here… I think that actually goes too far.”
“So, employers and law firms, try to work in that space of providing a safe working environment, ensuring that no one feels that they are sexually harassed in the workplace, but not doing so in a way that just bans people from entering into consensual relationships.”
On the question of a hypothetical senior lawyer within a law firm, who might be renowned for engaging in romantic relationships with more junior staff members, Mr Jewell said a firm could look at that through the prism of a safe working environment and sexual harassment laws.
“If it’s felt that there’s this track record, you could maybe say that there’s a concern that the firm would fall afoul of these sexual harassment protections and/or certain persons; they’re not providing them with a safe working environment. So, I think that could fall under the existing protections.”
Law firms would, however, have to be careful about taking such an approach, he added.
When asked if law firms are currently striking the right balance when it comes to protections from sexual harassment and bullying in the context of any potential interoffice romances, Mr Jewell said “at the moment, no”.
“The legal profession is a bit behind in that sense, and I think it’s because of a history of saying that lawyers are well-educated people who work really hard, and I think law firms traditionally probably took a bit of a hands-off approach to say that these people can look after themselves,” he mused.
“I just think, probably, law firms are lagging a little bit generally in terms of employee welfare, but also in having some mature discussions around this sort of thing.”
Law firms have to be pragmatic, he posited, noting that they put young people at the start of their career in multiple social environments that often involve alcohol.
“You can have a mature discussion around interoffice relationships. I think historically it’s probably just a situation of, whatever you get up to outside of working hours, that’s your business [and] when you come in, you work, and when you leave, that’s the end of it.”
To read Part one of this story, click here. To listen to more of this conversation, which was hosted on The Lawyers Weekly Show, click here.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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