Supporting our people and our communities
Our social commitments span the work that we do externally to leverage our expertise as a law firm to promote access to justice and protect human rights, through to the work we do internally to support our people and foster a culture of inclusion, respect and diversity.
Relevant Sustainable Development Goals
Beyond being a signatory to the National Pro Bono Target set by the Australian Pro Bono Centre (35 hours per lawyer per year), we set ourselves a target of an average of at least 50 hours of pro bono work per lawyer per year. In FY24, we exceeded the National Pro Bono target and our own target, with an average of 54.3 pro bono hours per lawyer.
Over the year, our people contributed a total of 48,815 hours to pro bono work spanning a range of areas, including human rights, First Nations, asylum seekers, homelessness and LGBTQIA+.
Defending press freedom: reforming Australia's secrecy laws
The complexity of Australia's secrecy laws, which include 875 offences across different legislations, poses a challenge for journalists. Lawyers from Allens assisted the Alliance for Journalist Freedom in its submissions to the Commonwealth Government's Review of Secrecy Provisions.
Providing employment law expertise to the LGBTQIA+ community
Through the Inner City Legal Centre pro bono clinic, a roster of Allens lawyers support the ICLC to service clients across NSW who seek employment rights legal advice.
Supporting access to information for the incarcerated in Australia
People incarcerated in Australia have little or no access to the internet, few news sources, and limited opportunities for self-expression. For the past two years, Allens has supported About Time's efforts to reduce the isolation of Australia’s incarcerated population.
First Nations pro bono support
In line with our First Nations Engagement Plan, we aim to dedicate at least 15% of our annual pro bono hours to First Nations causes. In FY24 we dedicated 13.4% of our time to these efforts.
In addition to this pro bono support, in 2011 we established a partnership with Jawun, a non-profit organisation that works with Indigenous communities. Through this partnership we offer opportunities for our staff to undertake skills-based secondments within Indigenous organisations. In FY24, our people spent 35.5 weeks on secondment supporting Indigenous organisations to deliver for their communities in areas such as aged care, preventative health care and emergency care.
Immersed in community
Legal technology consultant Asha Burnett undertook a six-week secondment at Wyanga Aboriginal Aged Care Program in Sydney. Wyanga is a community-controlled organisation that offers culturally appropriate, trauma-informed care to Indigenous seniors in community and on Country.
Our First Nations Engagement Plan
Our Plan provides a framework for us to support national reconciliation by forging pathways to justice, economic engagement and understanding. It builds on more than 14 years of focused effort to support reconciliation alongside our people and community partners.
Finance to football in Shepparton
Review Services Senior Team Leader Francesco Spanti spent six weeks in Shepparton, Victoria with Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative. Rumbalara is a leading provider of community-controlled, whole of life services that support, honour and respect First Nations People.
Our partnership gender target
In 2024, we reached our gender target of at least 40% women partners. This target is part of our broader 40:40:20 partnership aim: 40% women, 40% men, and 20% any gender (women, men, and/or non-binary or gender diverse persons). We remain committed to this effort, and monitor 40:40:20 gender representation at all levels across the firm.
Gender representation and equality
We make a concerted effort to support the development and advancement of women within the firm, and work to ensure representation across all levels of leadership.
Our Board and Executive Committee serve as our key governing bodies. Our Corporate Services Leadership Team comprises senior representatives across our business services teams.
Our gender pay gap
We measure our organisation-wide employee gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is the result of social and economic factors that combine to reduce women’s earning capacity over their lifetime.* We believe transparency on this metric will help to drive change. The median organisation-wide gender pay gap compares the middle values (median) of women's and men's salaries (excludes partners) when they are listed in order from lowest to highest.
*As explained by WGEA | Pay gap calculated using the WGEA methodology.
Supporting parents
We offer a comprehensive parental leave package, including 26 weeks of leave for all permanent employees in Australia, with no distinction between primary and non-primary carers and inclusive for all genders and families. We aim to increase the percentage of men taking part in longer-term parental leave, to normalise caring behaviour and responsibilities, and create visible role models, as key levers to progressing gender equality.
LGBTQIA+ inclusion
We believe there is enormous strength in the diverse backgrounds and life experiences of our people.
As a result of many years of focused effort to support LGBTQIA+ inclusion across our organisation this year, Allens achieved Gold Employer status in the Australian Workplace Equality Index.
Our Ally Guide explains how building a visible and vocal ally group helps all team members feel included and valued, and offers tips on creating an inclusive workplace culture. Learn more.
Learn more about our approach to inclusion and diversity.
Employee driven committees
We have employee-driven committees that respond specifically to the needs of our diverse team and drive meaningful change both within and outside the firm. A number of our committees play an important role in supporting our broader diversity strategy.
Our network for the advancement of women in the firm is called Women@Allens.
It provides education and networking opportunities for our entire employee population, and offers career development support for women working at the firm.
Our LGBTQIA+ network is called 'ALLin' to reflect the spirit of inclusiveness and solidarity between identifying employees and allies at Allens.
ALLin is an integral part of the firm, with a national executive committee and state-based working groups in each of our Australian offices setting the strategy for LGBTQIA+ inclusion across the firm.
Our reconciliation efforts are driven by our national network of Reconciliation Committees, including our state-based committees and our National Reconciliation Team.
Our Reconciliation Committees help to shape the commitments outlined in our First Nations Engagement Plan and drive internal engagement with and education on First Nations issues.
Our Cultural Awareness Network (CAN) connects culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) colleagues at Allens, to foster a safe and inclusive workplace.
CAN works to equip everyone at Allens with the tools, awareness and information to meaningfully engage and connect with culturally diverse people, including clients and the wider community.
Our employee network focused on disability, neurodivergence and accessibility at Allens. Accessibility is committed to creating a platform where experiences can be shared, understanding can be enhanced and support can be found. The ultimate goal is to ensure that everyone at Allens feel respected and valued for their unique abilities and perspectives.
Our supply chain
We understand that our impact extends beyond our immediate operations and into the supply chain. We take very seriously our responsibility to respect human rights and labour standards.
Our policy framework to uphold human rights
Supplier code of conduct
Sets out the minimum standards we expect from suppliers in relation to ethical business practices, human rights and labour practices, and environmental management. Read more.
Responsible sourcing process
Sets out our process for taking environment and social considerations into account in our procurement decisions.
- Foundation signatory to the United Nations Global Compact
- Founding member of Supply Nation
- Employer of Choice for Gender Equality by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency for 20 consecutive years
- Gold Employer in Pride in Diversity's Australian Workplace Equality Index 2024
- Signatory to:
- UN Women's Empowerment Principles
- NSW Law Society's Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession
- Law Institute of Victoria's Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession
- Law Council of Australia's Diversity and Equality Charter
- Member of:
- Diversity Council Australia
- Pride in Diversity
- Australian Disability Network
- Asian Leadership Project
- Sponsor of:
- Chief Executive Women
- Pinnace Foundation
- Diverse Women in Law