At its August 2016 meeting in San Francisco, the American Bar Association approved a major change to its Rules of Professional Conduct that will affect all lawyers if adopted by their licensing states. In pertinent part, the new Rule 8.4(g) would make it professional misconduct for a lawyer to “harass or knowingly discriminate against persons on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or socioeconomic status." The new Rule applies to “conduct related to the practice of law" which (1) represents an expansion from the present conduct performed “in the course of representing a client" and (2) new Comment 3 defines conduct to “include[e] the operation and management of a law firm or law practice."

Ms. Paulette Brown, Partner, Locke Lord LLP; Immediate Past President, American Bar Association
Mr. Stephen Gillers, Elihu Root Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Prof. Ronald D. Rotunda, Professor, Doy and Dee Henley Chair and Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Dale E. Fowler School of Law, Chapman University
Hon. Ken Paxton, State Attorney General, Texas
Moderator: Hon. G. Barry Anderson, Associate Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court

Professor Rotunda's PowerPoint Slides