Legal Aid Firm’s Efforts Recognised by United Nations

Legal Aid Firm’s Efforts Recognised by United Nations

It’s a story of a local start-up that has grown to cover a good portion of the South Island, in the process doing things ‘the right way’.

Portia (formerly Ebborn Law) was presented a White Camellia award at Government House in Auckland at a ceremony earlier this week. The White Camellia awards celebrate organisational commitment to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a UN Women and UN Global Compact initiative which encourages gender equality in the workplace.

NZWEPS Committee Chair, Vicky Mee, says they were “impressed by [Portia’s] incorporation of the WEP’s principles into their business practise, and their valuable work in the community to promote gender equality.”

Principal Lawyer Erin Ebborn received the award from Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy. In her acceptance speech, Erin explained work that the firm does to promote equality in the workplace and access to justice for women.

The firm has a number of ‘urgent portals’ installed in areas around the country in association with local Women’s Refuges. This enables lawyers to deliver a crisis service into parts of the country that struggle with finding legal aid lawyers. The video-enabled system means that women who have experienced family violence can remain in the safety and comfort of the refuge, and it significantly frees-up the time of refuge staff.

Portia has undertaken 152 domestic violence matters so far this year, an average of one per working day. The system provides a 15-minute turnaround to the refuge when they ask for an urgent appointment, with the aim of having the protection order application made within 48 hours.

The business had to cover a lot of ground to show a commitment to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles.

Erin Ebborn, principal lawyer, says that “we have adopted a workplace culture and ethic that attempts to address areas that traditionally create a power imbalance. These include how we hire, hours and days of work, place of work and career pathways.

“We provide professional supervision – where a staff member meets with a counsellor or clinical psychologist to debrief on a regular basis, to help manage stress – not only to our lawyers but to all staff members, in recognition that we all share the emotional impact of working with traumatic situations.”

Late last year the firm took a radical approach and implemented a formal in-house training programme that combines mentoring, formal training and a 'competency framework' on top of the CPD requirements of the profession. The principal lawyer's time is 100% committed to training and mentoring staff (with little or no caseload). Management actively work with staff to assist them with planning their career, and promote from within where possible.

Erin Ebborn is also proud of the community impact Portia has had. “In the past two years we have provided free legal training to social services; the number of women who are helped because of this is enormous,” she says, “In our last report back to the NZ Law Foundation (who funded the training) Social Service Providers Aotearoa (who we partnered with and who analysed the impact of the training) estimated the training would have affected 3,063 social service and community workers, and 13,475 clients.”

The move to the new Portia brand – Erin Ebborn calls it “the evolution of law” – represents a change how law is delivered, how law firms are operated and how staff are employed in the profession. This is recognised in an invitation to headline this year’s Future Firm Forum at Millbrook Resort, Queenstown, where Erin and CEO Jarrod Coburn will co-present a three-hour workshop on moving from ‘old’ to ‘new’ law.

“At the end of the day what matters most in this profession is people,” says Erin, “We all have a responsibility to promote equality, equity and fairness within the profession. To me, winning the White Camellia award is just the start of a long journey, but my team are committed to laying the groundwork for those who follow.”

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