Synopsis of the Report of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts

The recent Report of the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts (‘Taskforce‘) observes “some biased conduct toward parties and witnesses based on gender or race or ethnicity has occurred on the part of both judges and lawyers.” “Biased conduct toward lawyers based on gender or race or ethnicity, has occurred to a greater degree.” The Report concludes that such conduct is unacceptable and admonishes all participants in the Second Circuit courts to guard against it. The purpose of this Perspective is to review several sections of the Report. The Perspective is written from an informative, not an analytical, standpoint and is intended to summarize the status of key issues raised by the Task Force