When you walk into an attorney’s office, you deserve to know that you’re going to get the same caliber of service available to anyone else. When you choose that attorney to take your case, you must know that they’re going to put your best interests first and do all in their power to fight for a positive outcome.
This is true regardless of things like gender, race or age. The American Bar Association specifically notes that a legal professional can never act in a way that they know “or reasonably should know” qualifies as discrimination. This discrimination, if it happens, could be based on:
- Religion
- Sex
- Race
- National origin
- Age
- Disability
- Ethnicity
- Gender identity
- Sexual orientation
- Socioeconomic status
- Marital status
For instance, maybe your lawyer agreed to take your case without knowing your sexual orientation. It had no bearing on the case, so you never brought it up. All went well at first, but then they discovered your orientation in passing and you noticed a significant change in their behavior. They stopped returning your calls or putting in nearly as much time on your case. When you finally got to court, they seemed massively unprepared and apathetic. When you lost the case, you clearly felt that you did not get fair representation and may have lost because your lawyer stopped giving you the level of service he or she gave to other clients.
If you think you were discriminated against, you need to know that this behavior is prohibited and unethical. You also need to know what legal options you have moving forward. Speak to a legal malpractice attorney about your situation to see what can be done.