Coulter Legal

The law firm where life and

work are on the same side

Coulter Legal has spent close to a decade proving that a law firm can be both high performing and genuinely people first.

The firm is certified as a Family Friendly Workplace and you can feel that philosophy in the way policies translate to daily life. There is an eighteen week paid parental leave policy that is deliberately gender neutral. There are no primary or secondary carer labels. Superannuation is paid on both paid and unpaid parental leave for up to twelve months. 

Promotions while on leave, while pregnant and upon return are normal practice, not rare exceptions. Employees can see that starting or growing a family does not mean their career stalls. Coulter Legal recognises the many forms that family and care can take. There is paid leave for IVF and fertility treatment, pregnancy loss and stillbirth, grandparents leave, kinship and foster care leave and short-term care leave for when life throws a curve ball. The firm also offers comprehensive family violence leave and has processes in place to address employees who perpetrate violence, taking a clear stance that safety and accountability matter.

Flexibility at Coulter Legal is the rule. Very few people work “standard” hours. Part-time roles, compressed working weeks and remote work are embedded across the organisation, including at senior levels. Floating public holidays allow employees to swap Victorian public holidays for religious or cultural days that are meaningful to them, including alternatives to Australia Day, which sends a strong message about respect and choice.

Culture is actively shaped. Workplace behaviours training gives people tools to manage disrespectful or aggressive client conduct. A Preventing Workplace Violence policy sets expectations about how staff will be protected in difficult interactions. Leadership opportunities are opening up in new ways. In 2025, all new directors were internal appointments, including one person on parental leave and one non-lawyer, demonstrating diverse pathways to the top.

The numbers tell their own story. The workforce is currently around eighty five percent women and fifteen percent men, yet there is a fifty-fifty gender balance at Director level and sixty percent women in leadership. That means women are not stuck in the middle layers; they are influencing strategy and culture.

For someone joining Coulter Legal, the attraction is clear. You can build a serious legal career, in a firm where leadership cares about how your work fits alongside your life, where flexibility is expected, and where people are promoted because of their contribution, not penalised for their caring responsibilities.