Female lawyers say they are being routinely subjected to inappropriate sexual behaviour by senior men in law firms that take little or no action against the harassment.

Key points: Law Council says almost one in four women experience sexual harassment in law firms

Law Council says almost one in four women experience sexual harassment in law firms Melissa says she was sexually harassed by two lawyers where she worked

Melissa says she was sexually harassed by two lawyers where she worked Michael Harmer says some male lawyers act like a "protected species"

According to a national report from the Law Council, almost one in four female lawyers and barristers (24 per cent) say they have experienced sexual harassment in Australia.

Melissa, who asked us not to use her surname, told 7.30 she was sexually harassed by two senior lawyers in her law firm over the course of several months when she was 19.

"I moved into working in a law firm in the most junior role that you could, so basic entry level, and in that role there were ... two male lawyers who started making unwanted advances," she said.

The first instance was at after-work drinks when a married senior lawyer led her to the dance floor and tried to kiss her.

"When I pulled back I basically had to do a bit of a Matrix-style move to get away from him, because he had grabbed me and so I was bending backwards saying, 'No, no thank you, what are you doing?'" she said.

When Melissa complained to other colleagues she was told she should not have been dancing with a married man.

"The HR department was one person and one person who wasn't particularly supportive either," she said.

"There was nowhere to go to. There's no recourse, no option to go and have a proper chat about it."

Do you know more about this story? Email whyte.sarah@abc.net.au

'These protected species get away with blue murder'

Lawyer Michael Harmer said sexual harassment was common within the law profession. ( ABC News )

The second senior lawyer who harassed Melissa began by paying her special attention, buying her tickets for concerts and making suggestive comments. But the behaviour escalated at a colleague's house.

"We were all just sitting around in the lounge and at one point I just had this hand go up my skirt and start groping my leg and it was this guy," she said.

"I froze, I didn't know what to do at all and so I just kind of sat there thinking, what excuses am I going to make, how can I get out of this?"

Working with the same men who harassed her became very difficult.

"It's really uncomfortable because if the next minute you have to go into that person's office to get them to sign something, all you can think about is this just happened," Melissa said.

"I've just rejected him. Is he angry? What's he going to do? How's he going to react? Is this going to affect our working relationship?"

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 7 minutes 21 seconds 7 m Female lawyers lift lid on sexual harassment in law firms

Melissa's story of sexual harassment is not unusual. Michael Harmer, one of the leading sexual harassment lawyers in the country, said the law profession is one of the worst offenders, where senior lawyers and partners "groom" younger female lawyers before harassing them.

"It is that power imbalance," he said. "[The legal profession] is still a highly male dominated industry and basically within that power imbalances these 'protected species' get away with blue murder."

His own law firm Harmers Workplace Lawyers is not immune to such inappropriate behaviour. One of the lawyers there was sexually harassed by an instructing solicitor.

"We're caught and we have to go on," he said.

"We can't dump the person half way through the case. Very difficult situation, and very difficult to manage."

'It was really confronting and upsetting'

Catherine Dixon says law firms need to take a stance on stamping out sexual harassment. ( ABC News )

Employment lawyer Jenna Vardi, who specialises in employment law and sexual harassment cases with Maurice Blackburn in Melbourne, said she had her own experience of sexual harassment.

"I had done a seasonal clerkship at a large corporate law firm and a few of us had overheard some of the male lawyers talking about the fresh meat that was coming through and physical appearances and who might be easy prey at a Christmas party," she said.

"That was really confronting and really upsetting, but what to do in that situation? It's really difficult."

She said sexual harassment of an individual was usually not a one-off event.

"It will often start with comments that [younger staff] will shrug aside," she said.

"It will include discussions about their partner, what they are doing on the weekend and suddenly someone is brushing up against them in the office."

Ms Vardi said if the behaviour continued the perpetrator would get a level of confidence and the harassment could escalate.

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission director Catherine Dixon said law firms needed to take a stronger stance on stamping out this behaviour.

"One on the most important things is we can't just rely on victims to change the law," she said.

"There's a positive duty on employers, including law firms, to actually make these changes themselves and for women and for the range of employees working for them."