Protégé: Culture of silence challenged with new student-designed reporting platform

As is the case with one student, young lawyers who have not been a victim of sexual harassment and bullying are fast becoming the exception and not the rule. In an effort to address the culture of silence that exists around these experiences and to push the profession further towards eradicating both, a team of students has created an online platform designed for anonymous reporting.

In this episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Naomi Neilson is joined by juris doctorate candidates Amer Nasr and Erica Giulione and bachelor of arts and law student Marcus Lee, three members behind online reporting platform Confidant. With help from two other students, Confidant could pave the way to a safer profession.

Long before the Dyson Heydon findings in 2020 and possibly long after the most recent, harrowing reports in April, sexual harassment and bullying have been a plague on the profession made worse by a fear of coming forward. In this episode, the three members talk about how the platform could address this culture of silence by allowing victims to share their stories without fear of repercussion. 

As part of the episode, all three students share why they think this app is so important to the profession today and how damaging the culture of silence has been to either their own personal experiences or those of their peers. 

They also talk listeners through some of the other useful features, including options to take further action by consulting internal and external support systems. Victims may also be alerted when other users have reported the same person, which could give them all the confidence to come forward with their stories publicly. 

Have a listen to the episode below! 

If you have any questions about the episode or if there are any topics that you might want us to look into, please reach out – we would love to hear from you! 

We’re also always open to new guests so if you have an exciting story to tell, if you’re standing out as a student or graduate, or if you can offer some tips for our young lawyers, get in touch. 

You can reach us here:

Emails: editor@lawyersweekly.com.au or naomi.neilson@momentummedia.com.au

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