Unconscious bias—those involuntary, unexamined assumptions shaped by personal experiences and cultural conditioning—continues to influence decision-making across the Australian legal profession. While the legal system is built on principles of fairness and objectivity, even well-intentioned lawyers may unknowingly allow bias to affect their work.

Today, addressing unconscious bias is not just an ethical aspiration but a professional responsibility. With Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) increasingly integrated into Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements, Australian lawyers are expected to actively engage with these principles to maintain ethical and regulatory compliance.

This article examines how unconscious bias affects legal practice, how DEI aligns with CPD obligations, and how lawyers can use training, such as the CPD-accredited programs offered by LearnFormula, to build more inclusive, competent, and compliant practices.

Recognising the Role of Bias in Legal Work

Unconscious bias refers to the mental shortcuts our brains use to process information quickly. These shortcuts often conflict with our conscious values, particularly in high-stakes environments like law.

In practice, a lawyer might unconsciously evaluate a client's credibility or competence based on superficial traits like accent, dress, or background, potentially affecting the quality of legal representation. 

To develop a more advanced understanding of how these biases operate within legal environments, courses such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Legal World offer in-depth insights into the structural and interpersonal aspects of DEI, specifically tailored to the legal profession.

The Equality Before the Law Bench Book by the Judicial Commission of New South Wales documents how even judicial officers can be influenced by implicit stereotypes, affecting decisions on witness credibility or sentencing. These effects can compound over time, leading to unequal treatment across the justice system.

The Structural Impact of Bias in the Profession

Bias doesn’t just affect case outcomes—it also shapes legal careers. The Law Council of Australia’s National Attrition and Re-engagement Study (NARS) found that:

• One in two female lawyers reported experiencing discrimination due to gender

• 75% of women who left the profession mid-career cited workplace culture as a key factor

• Lawyers from diverse cultural backgrounds are underrepresented in senior legal roles, despite equivalent qualifications and performance.

These disparities suggest that unconscious bias is embedded in promotion, mentorship, and recruitment processes.

For legal teams looking to respond effectively, Implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provides actionable strategies to restructure internal processes and build more equitable organisational cultures.

CPD, DEI, and Professional Expectations

Bias mitigation is no longer optional—it’s increasingly embedded in the definition of competent, ethical practice. The 2025 CPD Requirements for Australian Lawyers, published by LearnFormula, confirms that training in DEI, ethical leadership, and unconscious bias is accepted toward annual CPD units compliance in most jurisdictions.

These requirements reflect an evolving professional consensus: that lawyers must not only avoid explicit discrimination, but also address the subtler forms of bias that can affect legal judgment, collaboration, and conduct.

Strategies to Reduce Bias in Practice

Unconscious bias can’t be eliminated—but it can be mitigated. The following strategies are supported by legal research, cognitive science, and DEI best practices:

Raise Awareness Through Structured Training 

Recognising bias is the first step to reducing its influence. The Australian Human Rights Commission emphasises that professional training is critical in uncovering implicit attitudes that shape decision-making. For lawyers, that training should be discipline-specific and scenario-based. While some studies suggest that short, one-off unconscious bias training sessions may have limited long-term impact on behaviour, more effective approaches involve ongoing, reinforcement-based training that teaches strategies to manage biases and track progress.

Standardize Decision-Making

Bias is most powerful in subjective processes. Structuring hiring panels, case evaluations, and promotion criteria around objective metrics helps reduce the influence of unconscious judgment. Implementing blind resume reviews (removing names and other identifying information) has been shown to increase the diversity of candidates invited for interviews.

Build Inclusive Leadership

The presence—or absence—of diverse voices in decision-making roles significantly shapes outcomes. A 2023 report by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) found that organisations with greater gender diversity in leadership roles tend to have better financial performance and higher rates of employee satisfaction. Fostering inclusive leadership pipelines is a strategic priority addressed in Elevating Equity, Inclusion and Success in the Legal World.

Analyse Demographic Trends 

Patterns often reveal bias where individual actions don’t. Collecting and reviewing firm-wide data on client outcomes, retention, promotion, and pay equity is essential to building long-term accountability. Regular diversity audits can pinpoint areas where unconscious biases are having a disproportionate impact, allowing for targeted interventions.

Encourage Perspective-Taking and Psychological Safety

Bias thrives in silence. Inclusive legal teams create space for open dialogue and support staff in challenging assumptions. Cultures that reward fairness, not conformity, are better equipped to reduce bias over time. Research in Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes suggests that strategies like perspective-taking, which involves taking the perspective of a member of a stereotyped group, can lead to substantial reductions in implicit bias by increasing psychological closeness.

Conclusion: Legal Ethics in a Bias-Aware Profession

Unconscious bias poses a real and measurable challenge to fairness in law. But with the right tools, Australian legal professionals can respond proactively, shaping a profession that better reflects the principles it claims to uphold.

LearnFormula’s library of CPD-accredited DEI courses helps lawyers meet evolving compliance expectations while fostering inclusive, client-focused, and ethically grounded practice. From recognising bias in client interactions to building systems that promote fairness, DEI training is no longer optional—it’s a marker of professional competence.

Lawyers who engage with these principles today are not only preparing for the future of practice, they are helping build it.