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

More AI Slop in the Fair Work Juris­dic­tion: The Fight Back

In two recent cas­es both the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) and Fed­er­al Cir­cuit and Fam­i­ly Court of Aus­tralia (FCF­CoA) have…

NSW Build­ing (Approvals and Prac­ti­tion­ers) Bill 2026 Pass­es Parliament

The Build­ing (Approvals and Prac­ti­tion­ers) Bill 2026 (the Bill) passed through Par­lia­ment on Tues­day after­noon 4 August 2026. The Bill is…

AI Slop v Fair Work Com­mis­sion: The Scourge Continues

For all the talk of how extra­or­di­nary and trans­for­ma­tive arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) can sup­pos­ed­ly be, it con­tin­ues to be a scourge…

In the News

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Busi­ness­es demand new pow­ers after worker’s ​‘hope­less’ AI claim costs employ­er”, pub­lished in the Aus­tralian on 23 August 2026

Busi­ness­es want new pow­ers because AI-assist­ed employ­ee claims are increas­ing the num­ber of weak or inac­cu­rate work­place com­plaints, forc­ing employ­ers…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Has the NBI undone itself?”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 19 August 2026

Has the NBI weak­ened its own influ­ence in Aus­trali­a’s work­place and indus­tri­al rela­tions system?Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Has…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Scott Hay­wood on 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR on 17 August 2026 to dis­cuss the use of AI by lit­i­gants in mat­ters before the Fair Work Com­mis­sion and oth­er tri­bunals and courts (from 29:15 to 36:45)

Michael Byrnes dis­cussed the use of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI), includ­ing gen­er­a­tive AI tools such as Chat­G­PT, by lit­i­gants in pro­ceed­ings…

Sign up for our Newsletter

*Mandatory information