As part of the nationwide discussion about diversity and discrimination on bases including race, national origin, gender, transgender issues, sexual orientation, and disability, the ABA and the legal profession as a whole are evaluating attendant legal ethics issues. The ABA is considering possible amendments to Model Rule 8.4 to further clarify lawyers' discrimination obligations, and many state legal ethics codes specifically discuss lawyers' obligations to foster nondiscrimination and diversity, taking a variety of approaches. In this program, Gail H. Morse and Lea S. Gutierrrez will discuss the current landscape and proposals and provide a variety of perspectives in response to a series of hypotheticals reflecting difficult questions that lawyers and students may encounter related to ethics obligations, and their relation to other law, to further nondiscrimination, diversity, and inclusion. Lunch will be provided. Sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Students, LWC, Outlaw, and BLSA.

Gail H. Morse is a partner at Jenner & Block in Chicago and leads the Firm’s national state and local Tax Practice. Her national practice focuses on state and local tax issues and her federal tax background also enables her to counsel clients on federal tax and tax controversy matters. Her practice also includes related matters such as unclaimed property reporting, tax amnesty programs, voluntary disclosures, and state tax credit and incentive opportunities.

Ms. Morse is a member of the Firm’s Alumni and Diversity & Inclusion Committees and also serves as co-chair of the Firm’s LGBT Forum. Active in the community, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership and the Board of Directors of Lambda Legal. She is a former Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Chicago-based Women’s Treatment Center, former Commissioner on the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues and a former Chair of WILPOWER, the political action committee of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. In 2008, she received the “Bella Abzug Woman of Honor Award” from the National Organization for Women for her work raising the visibility of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community and diversity issues in the workplace. She is a frequent speaker on behalf of the Firm regarding its LGBT Diversity initiatives and on tax issues affecting the LGBT community.

She received her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and Masters of Law (Taxation) from Georgetown University Law Center.

For nearly ten years, Lea S. Gutierrez has been Senior Litigation Counsel with the ARDC (Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission), a role that is responsible for investigating and prosecuting Illinois lawyers for ethical misconduct.

She is also Director of Diversity & Inclusion at the ARDC. On the ethics end, she provides guidance to individual lawyers and legal departments on understanding complex rules of professional responsibility and growing modern law practices within the boundaries of those rules.