Marcy Stovall Interviewed by Bloomberg Regarding New Connecticut Anti-Bias Rule

Marcy Stovall, an attorney in Pullman & Comley’s Professional Liability practice, was interviewed by Bloomberg for an article on Rule 8.4(7), “Connecticut’s New Anti-Bias Rule Addresses Free Speech Concerns.”

Marcy serves on the Connecticut Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Professional Ethics, and helped draft the new rule.  Connecticut Rule 8.4(7) reworks an anti-bias ethics rule developed by the American Bar Association to avoid triggering First Amendment concerns that have led a number of other states to reject it.

Connecticut’s version was approved in early July 2021 by the State Rules Committee and takes effect on January 1.  It considered views from across the legal community, and zeroed-in on criticisms that ABA model rule 8.4(g) was too broad and had the potential to chill free speech.

The result is a rule that “addresses the same conduct as the ABA’s rule but makes clear it doesn’t reach language protected by the First Amendment,” Marcy said.

To read the full article, please visit the Bloomberg website.