Employment Discrimination in the Legal Profession: A Question of Ethics?

Alex Long, University of Tennessee College of Law

Abstract

In recent years, the ABA and local bar leaders have taken numerous steps to raise awareness about the need to increase diversity within the legal profession. In order to increase diversity, however, the legal profession must also seek to eliminate unlawful employment discrimination. In most workplaces, an employer’s main concern with respect to discrimination is the possibility of civil suit. However, in a surprising number of states, rules of professional conduct either explicitly prohibit employment discrimination on the part of lawyers or could be easily read to do so. This paper will examine the extent to which it is desirable to use rules of professional conduct for lawyers to supplement existing statutory employment discrimination law in order to reduce instances of discrimination and increase diversity within the legal profession.