CBA Record January-February 2025

PRACTICAL ETHICS BY TRISHA RICH AND DANIEL ROSSMAN Bullying in the Legal Profession: Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism Releases First-of-its-Kind Study

lights the prevalence and impact of bul lying in the legal profession and in legal organizations. The study, involving over 6,000 Illinois lawyers, reveals widespread bullying behaviors and their adverse effects on individual well-being and pro fessional retention, particularly among underrepresented groups. The report defines bullying as the improper exercise of power by one person over another. Bullying can take the form of aggressive acts or comments meant to intimidate, humiliate, embarrass, or control another person. It may involve verbal aggression, nonverbal actions, acts of exclusion, or harsh working conditions. Findings The report finds that many law yers are impacted by bullying. For instance, 39% of attorneys aged 25 to 35 reported experiencing bullying, and 38% of female attorneys reported experienc ing bullying. Lawyers from marginalized groups, including those with disabilities and LGBTQ+ individuals, also faced dis proportionately higher rates of bullying compared to their male and nondisabled counterparts. Only 20% of lawyers who experienced bullying in their workplace reported the behavior. Common reasons for not reporting bullying include fear of being perceived as weak or a “complainer,” con cern about the bully’s influential status, doubting whether the employer would take action, and concern about potential job or workload repercussions. Over half of those who reported bullying rated their workplace’s response as “not sufficient” or “totally unsatisfactory,” indicating a gap in effective organizational support. Bullying in the legal profession has pro found effects on those targeted, impacting their emotional, physical, and profes sional well-being. Bullying often leads to heightened stress and anxiety, with 54% of affected attorneys reporting nega tive changes in their emotional health. Impact of Bullying on Legal Professionals

T he Illinois Supreme Court Com mission on Professionalism released a report on October 1, 2024, high lighting the detrimental impacts of bul lying in the legal profession. The report also proposes actions to mitigate bullying practices, which it finds pervasive. Background While neither the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct nor the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct explicitly mandate lawyer civility in a black letter rule, lawyers are expected to be civil. However, the Illinois Supreme Court has often stressed civility in the legal profes sion, perhaps most notably by forming the Illinois Supreme Court Commission

on Professionalism. The Commission’s mission is to promote a culture of civil ity and inclusion, “in which Illinois law yers and judges embody the ideals of the legal profession in service to the admin istration of justice in our democratic society.” Since its inception in 2005, the Commission has grown to be the most widely recognized and well-known legal professionalism group in the country. The Commission underscores the ideals that lawyers are expected to engage with clients, colleagues, and the courts with professionalism and courtesy, and to align their behavior with broader goals of main taining the integrity and respectability of the legal profession. The Commission’s recent report high

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