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Lawyer Stefanie Costi was humiliated by a senior partner. Her fightback has inspired thousands
By Max Maddison
In the legal profession, there’s an expectation younger lawyers do exactly what they’re told – even when some of those requests border on the pathological, according to lawyer Stefanie Costi.
Costi, 34, alleged a senior partner asked her to go to Mitre 10 to buy him a pair of gumboots before a weekend trip to a client’s farm. After returning to the office, she was asked to put the boots on his feet, “because he was suffering back problems” – and then she was asked to take them off again.
Lawyer Stefanie Costi is advocating for changes to workplace health and safety in the legal profession.Credit: Steven Siewert
The humiliating request was made in full view of Costi’s colleagues. The corrosive effect of this experience and many others in her initial years resulted in her being afflicted by PTSD and almost leaving the law entirely.
Costi says an insidious, systemic culture of bullying and abuse is pervasive across the legal profession, aided by ruthless competition, a silence-is-best attitude embedded among younger graduates, and the protected status of senior perpetrators at firms.
After speaking out about her own experience across multiple firms last year to help change the culture, Costi said she has been inundated with thousands of replies from others who say they have been subjected to similar behaviour.
These anecdotal responses are backed by a landmark survey of 7000 lawyers in more than 100 countries, in which 60 per cent of Australian lawyers reported being bullied at work, including 73 per cent of Australian women.
The 2019 survey also found 30 per cent of women said they had been sexually harassed in the workplace – 8 per cent higher than the global average. In a foreword to the International Bar Association’s report, former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard said the findings were “a clarion call for urgent action”.
Five years later, and eager not to be portrayed as a victim, Costi said the same conduct was still rampant. Her advocacy is an effort to shine a light on anachronistic, unacceptable workplace behaviour and comes two years after Australian parliaments faced a similar reckoning over workplace cultures.
“I’m putting everyone on notice this behaviour is not OK. I want to get across that the Respect at Work laws are not just guidelines,” Costi said. “Employers won’t take it seriously until this kind of behaviour is criminalised.”
The young lawyer’s experience has attracted the attention of Mark Buttigieg, the NSW parliamentary secretary for industrial relations. In a speech to the Legislative Council on Thursday evening, he said a “grotesque” lack of workplace health and safety practices in the legal profession, particularly psychosocial hazards, required remedy.
Mark Buttigieg, parliamentary secretary for industrial relations, decried the “grotesque” workplace health and safety deficiencies in the legal sector.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“Over time, the sector has built up a work culture of cut-throat competition between employees at all levels, whereby unless you are working excessive hours and not taking breaks, you are seen as a weak link who doesn’t belong,” Buttigieg said.
“Because the ‘toughen up’ culture is so embedded, some lawyers and legal professionals do not feel like they can report incidents of unsafe work or bullying.”
He hopes an upside of Costi’s ordeal will be encouraging others to advocate for change, saying the “power imbalance between employers and employees” in the profession requires changes.
In addition to working on a campaign to target the industry with the United Services Union, who Buttigieg concedes have little footprint in the sector, he told parliament he would consult with Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis to “investigate if there is a legislative remedy”.
Buttigieg concedes any change will be hard won, but he believes the “toxicity” of the legal profession will help bring about change.
Costi is hopeful, too. She said younger people entering the profession have higher expectations of work-life balance which will tip the scale towards higher standards. But she’s pessimistic about the prospects of change in the short run.
“The legal profession needs to take a long, hard look at itself. Until it does, I will keep advocating, keep shining a light on this kind of behaviour,” she said.
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