Deborah L. Rhode
- Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law
- Director, Center on the Legal Profession
- Room N347, Neukom Building
Expertise
- Equal Protection
- Ethics & Professional Responsibility
- Gender & Sexual Orientation Discrimination
- Legal Profession
- Prosecutorial Ethics
- Public Interest Law
- Race & Ethnicity Discrimination
Biography
Deborah L. Rhode is the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law, the director of the Center on the Legal Profession, and the director of the Program in Law and Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford University. She is the most frequently cited scholar on legal ethics. She has received the American Bar Association’s Michael Franck Award for contributions to the field of professional responsibility; the American Bar Foundation’s W. M. Keck Foundation Award for distinguished scholarship on legal ethics, the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Scholar Award, the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award for her work on expanding public service opportunities in law schools, and the White House’s Champion of Change Award for a lifetime’s work in increasing access to justice. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and vice chair of the board of Legal Momentum (formerly the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund). She is the former founding president of the International Association of Legal Ethics, the former president of the Association of American Law Schools, the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, the former founding director of Stanford’s Center on Ethics, a former trustee of Yale University, and the former director of Stanford’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender. She also served as senior counsel to the minority members of the Judiciary Committee, the United States House of Representatives, on presidential impeachment issues during the Clinton administration.
Professor Rhode graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Yale College and received her legal training from Yale Law School. After clerking for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, she joined the Stanford faculty. She is the author or coauthor of over thirty books in the area of professional responsibility, leadership, and gender. She has served as a columnist for the National Law Journal and published editorials in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Slate. Recent publications include Women and Leadership, Adultery, The Trouble With Lawyers, What Women Want, Lawyers as Leaders, The Beauty Bias, Legal Ethics, Gender and Law, Moral Leadership, and Access to Justice.
Education
- BA Yale University 1974
- JD Yale Law School 1977
Related Organizations
Courses
Affiliations & Honors
- Founding Director, Stanford Center on Ethics
- Founding President of International Association of Legal Ethics
- Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense Fund)
- Columnist, National Law Journal
- President (1998-1999), Association of American Law Schools
- Chair (2000-2002), Commission on Women and the Profession, American Bar Association
- Co-chair, Stanford Faculty Women’s Forum
- Recipient, American Bar Association Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award, 2006
Women and Leadership
For most of recorded history, men have held nearly all of the most powerful leadership positions. Today, although women occupy an increasing percentage of leadership positions, in America they hold less than a fifth of positions in both the public and private sectors. The United States ranks 78th in the world for women’s representation in political office. In politics, although women constitute a majority of the electorate, they account for only 18 percent of Congress, 10 percent of governors, and 12 percent of mayors of the nation’s 100 largest cities. In academia, women account for a majority of college graduates, but only about a quarter of full professors and university presidents. In law, women are almost half of law school graduates, but only 17 percent of the equity partners of major firms, and 22 percent of Fortune 500 general counsels. In business, women constitute a third of MBA graduates, but only 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.
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