Interns, young lawyers forced to remain silent over rampant sexual harassment

In 2017, the #MeToo movement swept through the globe, bringing a fresh focus on sexual harassment in the workplace. It brought with it awareness and scrutiny on workplace behaviours, most of which were unfair to women employees. Perhaps the most shocking was the revelation that law firms and corporate law departments were just as susceptible to incidents of sexual harassment as other fields.

According to a global study on bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession, about one in two female respondents and one in three male respondents had been bullied in connection with their employment. One in three female respondents had been sexually harassed in a workplace context, as had one in 14 male respondents.