Barrister gender and litigant success in the High Court of Australia

Abstract

We examine the relationship between gender of the barrister and appeal outcomes on the High Court of Australia. We find that an appellant represented in oral argument by a female barrister, opposed to a respondent represented in oral argument by a male barrister, is less likely to receive a High Court justice's vote. However, we also find that the appellant disadvantage of having a female barrister present oral argument is (partially) offset in the case of liberal justices and on panels having a higher proportion of female justices. The extent to which the disadvantage is offset, and potentially turns from being a disadvantage to an advantage, depends on the degree to which the justice is liberal and the proportion of female justices on the panel.本文探讨律师性别与诉讼结果之间的关系。我们发现这个过程并不对称。如果是由女律师上诉，而辩方是一个或一个以上男性律师，那么性别就是一个因素。不过并不存在相反的情况。我们具体发现，如果诉方是一个女律师，辩方为一男律师，诉方就不大可能获得最高法官的赞同。不过，我们还发现，如果法官具有自由主义精神，如果法官团的女性比例较高，那么女律师的不利情形就有可能被（部分地）抵消。被抵消的程度取决于法官自由精神的强弱，和法官团女性比例的大小。