Sexism, Sexual Harassment, Women's Issues

The ABA Passed This Professional Conduct Rule To Keep Women Lawyers From Suffering In Silence

Will this end sexism in the legal profession? That's doubtful, but it's a step in the right direction.

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sexual harassment bossMy clients have had male colleagues expose themselves in conference rooms, grope them in limousines after a hard day in the office, and threaten them that if they would not have sex in the bathroom at a retreat, they would not be promoted to lead counsel in a litigation.

These women need protection, and they need a remedy. Firms don’t want to punish their partners, and judges often are reluctant to police their own. So in the end there is no justice for victims of discrimination.

— Wendi S. Lazar, a member of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, addressing the ABA House of Delegates before a new professional conduct rule addressing the prohibition of attorneys discriminating against or harassing their colleagues in the practice of law was passed. Michele Coleman Mayes, Chair of the ABA’s Commission on Women, added that “[t]he women who go to the mat are the exception. The stigmatism that attaches to you — even if you are right, that is a pretty high price to pay.”

(For more shocking stories like the ones Lazar described above, see the Above the Law series, The Pink Ghetto.)

Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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