Background
Addressing bullying, harassment and discrimination is one of the Law Society’s top priorities.
At the Bencher retreat in May 2024, Benchers participated in a one-day conference dedicated to addressing discrimination, harassment, and bullying in the legal profession. They considered existing data on how prevalent this issue is in the legal profession, a summary of the Law Society's current actions to address the issue, and what additional or different actions the Law Society could take to remove barriers to reporting and facilitate alternative processes.
In November 2024, the Benchers unanimously approved the creation of a Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Task Force. The purpose of the task force is to explore how the Law Society can better address bullying, harassing, and discriminatory behaviour in the legal profession that is contrary to the Code of Professional Conduct for BC (BC Code).
The task force has been meeting regularly to examine whether potential approaches and initiatives are feasible or advisable to address bullying, harassment, and discrimination in the legal profession. This work is informed by evidence-based, intersectional research.
Initiatives
Symposium
On October 9, 2025, the Law Society held a full-day symposium to explore how bullying, discrimination and harassment in BC’s legal profession could be addressed. The symposium brought together approximately 45 participants, including members of Law Society committees, staff and a number of external speakers.
Key themes discussed during the symposium include:
- the connections between discrimination and harassment with broader questions of equity, inclusion, access to justice and public confidence;
- existing challenges to reporting, from fears of career impacts to power imbalances between legal professionals and their clients;
- the need for better supports for those impacted by bullying and harassment by legal professionals; and,
- the potential for less adversarial, alternative processes to address complaints or concerns related to bullying, harassment and discrimination.
The Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Task Force was seen as uniquely positioned to help bring about systemic change and to set expectations for a more accountable regulatory framework.
Data collection of British Columbians was repeatedly highlighted as essential to understanding the scope of bullying, harassment, and discrimination and designing effective, proactive interventions.
Survey of the legal profession and the public
The Law Society conducted a survey from October to December 2025 to collect data on experiences of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and bullying in BC’s legal profession. The results from the survey are now available.
The survey received responses from 787 individuals across a range of professional and socio-demographic backgrounds. We thank all of the participants who took the time to complete the survey. The responses are essential to informing the task force’s work in developing their recommendations.
Download the survey report:
Survey findings: discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and bullying in BC’s legal profession
Key findings
Overall, the survey findings indicate a high prevalence of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and bullying within the legal profession.
- Approximately half of the respondents reported personally experiencing discrimination, harassment, and bullying firsthand, and about a third reported experiencing sexual harassment. Nearly 80% of the respondents personally experienced at least one of these behaviours.
- Approximately half of the respondents reported witnessing discrimination, harassment, bullying, and about a third reported observing sexual harassment. Approximately 75% of the respondents reported observing at least one of these behaviours.
The results also reveal systematic underreporting.
- Less than 30% of respondents who experienced discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, or bullying reported these incidents.
- Among those who did not report, the most commonly cited reasons for not reporting included fear of negative consequences (59%), a belief that reporting would not resolve the issue (53.5%), and a distrust in reporting processes (45%).
- Among those who reported personally experienced incidents, less than 10% reported it to the Law Society; the majority (over 85%) reported it to their organization.
- Only 27% of respondents reported being familiar with the Law Society’s reporting processes, while about 40% indicated they were not aware of these processes at all.
When asked which measures respondents believed would be most effective in addressing discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and bullying in BC’s legal profession, the top-rated interventions were an independent and confidential recording and reporting tool, followed closely by a dedicated support person or navigator to help navigate Law Society processes.
Next steps
The task force will be analyzing the survey findings, developing recommendations and considering how the findings may inform future policy or regulatory decisions.
The task force's recommendations report is expected to be finalized in 2027.
Resources
The Law Society's Equity Advisor can help lawyers, articled students, law students and support staff of legal employers with their concerns about bullying, discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment by a lawyer.
Anyone who has a concern about a lawyer’s conduct can make a complaint whether you are a client, opposing party, or work with the lawyer. If you would like to make a complaint about sexual misconduct, harassment or discrimination, see Complaints about Sexual Misconduct, Harassment or Discrimination.