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SA Chief Justice Chris Kourakis wants more women to become barristers

A gender imbalance at the highest levels of South Australia's legal profession will be targeted by new moves to enable more women to become barristers and judges.

The Courts Administration Authority (CAA) is in the process of creating a position that will make it easier for female lawyers to be admitted to the Bar.

There are currently 14 judge's associate positions in the South Australian Supreme Court. The roles are often sought by law graduates.

The new Step Up to the Bar initiative will create an associate role exclusively for practising female solicitors, helping them gain the experience needed to become barristers.

South Australia's Chief Justice Chris Kourakis said he hoped a larger pool of female barristers would lead to more women becoming judges in the future.

"You really have to tailor individual measures and solutions to the environment that you're tackling," Justice Kourakis told 891 ABC Adelaide.

"More than 50 per cent of legal practitioners generally are women but only 25 per cent of barristers are women."

Justice Kourakis said it was unacceptable that women continue to be underrepresented in senior ranks within the legal profession.

"For several decades now, an equal number of women have graduated from our law schools as men. So we can't any longer say it'll just happen with time," he said.

"We have to take special measures.

"This is an additional special position for women who've been in practice for several years. It'll be rotated every year to 18 months."

The CAA has submitted an application to the Equal Opportunities Tribunal seeking permission to only advertise the position to female candidates.

"It's startling that we have to, in effect, acknowledge that we've got this problem to request permission for a special measure," Justice Kourakis said.

"The acknowledgment is as important as the position we're creating."

Female barristers welcome Australian first

The initiative was designed in consultation with the state's Women at the Bar committee and its chair, Sashi Maharaj QC, who will help run the program.

She said the rate of attrition among female barristers was high and hoped the program, which is the first of its type in Australia, would encourage women to remain in the job.

"This is quite a novel initiative," she said.

"This associate will be working with the Chief Justice and also with the other Justices of the Supreme Court on the more complex, interesting matters."

Ms Maharaj said it was important to avoid a "skewed judiciary" which did not reflect the wider community.

"If you have fewer females at the Bar, then there are fewer females taking silk and that in turn is reflected in fewer appointments to the judiciary," she said.

"If you want to not only have a well-balanced judiciary that is reflective of the community and gives an appearance of impartiality and fairness, then I think the composition of the judiciary must reflect that as well."