By McKean J. Evans, Esquire
Introduction: Discrimination in the legal profession is an unfortunate reality. One judge described the problem as a “‘dirty little secret,’ which, while undoubtedly occurring on a daily basis, no one speaks about in public.” Principe v. Assay Partners, 586 N.Y.S.2d 182, 185 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1992). Anecdotal evidence of discrimination is disturbingly easy to come by if you ask any attorney. The problem has also been formally catalogued by countless studies, such as the Florida bar’s 2015 report noting women lawyers often report discrimination from opposing counsel, judges, and their employers...While we have undoubtedly progressed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous holding that women were unfit to practice law because God intended they be wives and mothers in Bradwell v. People of State of Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 141-42 (1872), discriminatory and demeaning conduct endures despite the advent of constitutional and statutory protections. This conduct adversely affects attorneys’ professional lives, prospects, and compensation.
Published in the March/April 2017 issue of The Bencher.