The Missouribar – 2021 “When There are Nine” Gender Bias in the Legal Profession

When the late Justice Ginsburg was asked when will we have enough woman on the United State Supreme Court, she famously said, “When there are nine.” In 1981, when I started practicing law as an Assistant Summit County prosecutor in Akron, Ohio every one of our seven Common Pleas judges was male.  In 2020, every one of these judges is female.  Because of this change, does this lead to the conclusion that sexual bias in the legal profession is gone, a relic of the past?  Unfortunately, sexual bias is still alive and well in the legal profession. In a 2018 American Bar Association survey of 3000 professionals in the legal profession, 68% of female respondents indicated that they had been the victim of sexual bias or sexual misconduct.   According to the National Association of Women Judges, approximately one third of judges nationwide are female although over half the attorneys are female. Today, women still make up only 27 percent of all federal judges. Currently, there are only a handful of female managing partners in the larger law firms.  In this presentation, attendees will learn about sexual bias in the legal profession, why attorneys are hesitant to report this bias and how Summit County Ohio overcame that bias to elect an all-female bench.