Lawyers Who Call Women "Honey" and "Sweetie" Will Now Be Fined
"Calm down, honey."
It's a sentiment you'd expect coming from Humphrey Bogart in a film from the '40s, not a U.S. courtroom in 2016. But in January, a federal judge in California fined lawyer Peter Bertling $250 after he told opposing counsel Lori Rifkin, who had asked him to stop interrupting her, "Don't raise your voice at me. It's not becoming of a woman."
The judge said Bertling's comments "endorsed the stereotype that women are subject to a different standard of behavior than their fellow attorneys." Rifkin told the New York Times she was "well accustomed" to such remarks.
She's not alone: Earlier this year, the 5,200 women who make up the National Association of Women Lawyers petitioned to amend the American Bar Association (ABA)'s professional code of conduct to prohibit lawyers from using harassing and discriminatory language while practicing law. The women said they are routinely undermined during trials with demeaning terms like "honey" and "darling," according to Quartz.
On Monday, the ABA voted in favor of the amendment. Now, lawyers can be fined for calling women darling, honey, sweetheart, and other sexist terms.
Similar rules already existed in 23 states and Washington, D.C., but this ban establishes a nationwide standard that will apply to all 400,000 members of the bar. Penalties, which could range from fines to suspension from practice, depending on the offense, will be determined by state bar associations.
"A sexist remark is not just a professional discourtesy, although that in itself is regrettable and all too common," said Paul S. Gerwal, the judge in Lori Rifkin's case."The bigger issue is that comments like Bertling's reflect and reinforce the male-dominated attitude of our profession."
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