Ill. Commission Urges Attys to Confront Workplace Bullying

Trisha Rich, chair of the firm's Legal Profession Team, was quoted in a Law360 article discussing a virtual summit where the Illinois State Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism urged attorneys to address workplace toxicity and bullying. The online event followed the commission's release of a major study showing that 38 percent of female lawyers and 15 percent of male lawyers in Illinois experienced bullying in the past year. The commission's report on the study includes recommendations such as implementing anti-bullying policies, offering relevant training and ensuring court enforcement of anti-bullying standards. It also advises those facing bullying to document incidents, follow internal procedures and escalate issues to leadership when necessary.

Ms. Rich was among the speakers at the summit who addressed the study's findings. She emphasized the importance of bystander intervention, noting that even a single person stepping in can make a difference, while also highlighting that providing support after an incident is valuable.

"Everybody is kind of looking around and saying, 'OK, this isn't so serious that other people are intervening, so I shouldn't be taking it so seriously that I should intervene, too.' It just takes one person to break that," she said.

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