Anti-semitism and prejudice in the legal profession

As an employment lawyer, as a Jew, and as the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am outraged, appalled, and disgusted by the recent revelations in the press of the vile, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic emails written between John Barber and Jeff Ranen – the former chairs of Lewis Brisbois Employment Law Department over a period of 12 years.

These emails were revealed after their former employer, the national law firm of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgard & Smith, received an internal complaint about them, and after they led a revolt and took 140 lawyers from the 1,700 lawyer firm with them to form the new firm of Barber and Ranen.

The resulting uproar caused both John Barber and Jeff Ranen to resign from their newly formed namesake firm.

It is particularly ironic that such vile, racist language came from the Employment Law Department, because employment lawyers work with their clients on a daily basis to educate them about the importance of the language they and their employees use in the workplace, especially in writing in emails.

Further, it is ironic that there was so much anti-Semitism originating in the Employment Law Department, since Jews are disproportionately highly represented in Labor and Employment Law. Historically, Jews were involved in the US Labor movement, including Samuel Gompers, the head of the Cigar Makers’ Union and founder of the AFL, the American Federation of Labor, and David Dubinsky, the leader of the ILGWU, the International Ladies Garment Worker Union.

The question is how this racism could have gone on for more than a decade in the management committee of Lewis Brisbois, without anyone knowing about it. These were not merely two rogue associates, but rather the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Employment Law Department and members of the Management Committee. At least nine other lawyers were copied in on some of the disgusting emails. Therefore, it appears that this racist culture was not a secret at Lewis Brisbois, but nothing was done to stop it, because it appears that people were afraid to say anything due to fear of retaliation, until Barber and Ranen left, and Lewis Brisbois wanted to take revenge on them.

The emails revealed that Barber and Ranen were “equal opportunity offenders”: attacking women and minorities, including Jews, Asians, Armenians, Persians, Blacks and Gays. Ranen used the word “Jew” as a verb, as in “Jew him down.” He used the “N-word” and sent emails to an observant Jewish attorney “ONLY” on Saturdays, after the Jewish opposing counsel had requested that he not send him emails on Saturday. They referred to a female judge as “sugar t-ts.” In a telling email Jeff Ranen wrote to John Barber: “Sorry, I forgot to write that we will not hire Jews.”

It is hard to believe that we still have these racist attitudes in 2023. Sadly, I have witnessed a general decline in civility and professionalism in the legal profession during my 47 years of practice, where it has come to the point that at times all conversations must be confirmed in writing.

What are the solutions?

I think that we need to start in law school and focus on teaching civility and professionalism across the curriculum, not only in Legal Ethics, so that new lawyers understand that collegiality is not a sign of weakness, and that a lawsuit is not a fight to the death.

We already have rules in place in California Bar Rule §8.4.1, which prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation on the basis of a protected characteristic, such as race, religion, or sex. However, we need to vigorously enforce them. Law Firms need to police their own ranks and educate their attorneys and support staff.

We need to use this disturbing moment as an opportunity to reflect on the dismal state of civility in the legal profession, and use it as a catalyst to reform our profession, so that lawyers learn to communicate with opposing counsel in a respectful manner, while still advocating zealously for their clients.