Portrait photograph of Mary Digiglio
Mary Digiglio
Managing Partner

To cel­e­brate Inter­na­tion­al Wom­en’s Day, through­out March, we will be shin­ing a spot­light on the #womenof­Swaab who are lead­ing our firm and have paved the way for the oth­ers to find their own suc­cess­es. Start­ing with our Man­ag­ing Part­ner, Mary Digiglio who explains how Swaab has been suc­cess­ful in achiev­ing gen­der diver­si­ty in the legal profession.

#Each­fore­qual #IWD2020

How has Swaab been so suc­cess­ful in achiev­ing gen­der diver­si­ty in a pro­fes­sion that has strug­gled for so long?

The suc­cess of Swaab has been built on our cul­ture. Our firm has a his­to­ry of gen­der diver­si­ty, hav­ing being led by females. The female lead­ers have influ­enced our fir­m’s long his­to­ry of pro­mot­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty, diver­si­ty and an inclu­sive culture. 

Present­ly, 54% of our part­ners are female, our CEO of about 20 years before me was also a female. We do not have poli­cies around quo­tas for gen­der and diver­si­ty in our firm and have nev­er need­ed them because liv­ing and breath­ing diver­si­ty is just how we have always exist­ed. We also do not have a gen­der pay gap in our firm, for which we are very proud.

Hav­ing a work­force which is diverse in gen­der, age, eth­nic­i­ty, reli­gion and polit­i­cal per­sua­sion facil­i­tates per­mis­sion for every indi­vid­ual in our firm to have a voice about all sorts of issues. Our posi­tion on diver­si­ty and inclu­sion is a nat­ur­al exten­sion of our fir­m’s focus on the well­be­ing of every per­son asso­ci­at­ed with our firm.

- Mary Digiglio, Man­ag­ing Part­ner, Accred­it­ed Spe­cial­ist, Direc­tor, moth­er, sis­ter, wife and friend.

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

Match­ing Par­ent­ing Orders to Risk: Craft­ing orders to prop­er­ly address the dan­gers in a fam­i­ly law matter

The focus of any par­ent­ing mat­ter being dealt with in the Fed­er­al Cir­cuit and Fam­i­ly Court of Aus­tralia is what…

Amend­ments to NCC 2022 com­menc­ing on 1 May 2025

Back­groundThe Aus­tralian Build­ing Codes Board (ABCB), a joint ini­tia­tive of the Com­mon­wealth and state and ter­ri­to­ry gov­ern­ments togeth­er with the build­ing…

Choose Your Own Respon­dent in Gen­er­al Pro­tec­tions Dis­missal Disputes

Usu­al­ly when one par­ty is tak­ing legal pro­ceed­ings against anoth­er the respon­dent enti­ty needs to be care­ful­ly iden­ti­fied. It can…

In the News

Press Release | New Part­ner Appoint­ment — Mark Glynn

With over two decades in the indus­try, Mark is a recog­nised front-end con­struc­tion lawyer spe­cial­ist with­in the build­ing and con­struc­tion indus­try. Mark…

Press Release | New Asso­ciate Appoint­ment — Hugo Mahony

“As we con­tin­ue to expand in line with our strate­gic vision, Hugo’s deep knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence in Com­mer­cial, Cor­po­rate, IP…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Police and Safe­Work are inves­ti­gat­ing MAFS, but the show keeps win­ning the rat­ings race”, pub­lished on ABC News on 6 April 2025

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Police and Safe­Work are inves­ti­gat­ing MAFS, but the show keeps win­ning the rat­ings…

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