Bullying in the Legal Profession: Its Impact on Lawyers and Recommendations for

Stephanie Scharf is well known for innovative work in the areas of organizational excellence, diversity, equality and inclusion, strategic growth, talent development, and enterprise management. Her consulting work is enhanced by over 30 years of practice working with national and global corporations, as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, a partner at Jenner & Block and, most recently, founder of Scharf Banks Marmor LLC, a nationally prominent women-owned law firm.

Stephanie has a Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences and a J.D. from the University of Chicago. She consults to businesses, not-for-profits and law firms on such topics as success in retaining and advancing professional talent, attributes of effective leadership, and strategies for growth and talent development. Stephanie has deep experience combining her skills in data analytics to design practical and measurable strategies for organizational change and achievable goals. She has published innovative research that uses data to track the impact of policies and practices on business goals, including strategies for effective leadership and for growth and talent development.

Stephanie has designed and co-authored many studies about the factors that impact long-term professional careers, including such nationally recognized research as Bullying in the Legal Profession: A Study of Illinois Lawyers’ Experiences and Recommendations for Change (2024); Legal Careers of Parents and Child Caregivers (2023); Where Does the Legal Profession Go from Here? (2022) Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward (2021) Walking Out the Door: the Fact, Figures and Future of Experienced Women Lawyers in Private Practice (2019); and First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table (2015). Stephanie founded and conducted the NAWL Annual Survey of Women in Law Firms from 2006-2014; and conducted a range of other applied research on the strategies, career trajectories, and interaction between organizations and their employees.

Stephanie has held many leadership positions in national organizations. She was 2017-2020 Chair of the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession and also co-chaired the ABA Presidential Initiative on Achieving Long-Term Careers for Women in the Law. Stephanie is a former President of the National Association of Women Lawyers, where she created the highly regarded NAWL General Counsel Institute as well as a series of NAWL national surveys. Stephanie also served as Special Advisor to the American Bar Association’s Presidential Commission on Diversity and Inclusion; and served on the Board of DirectWomen, where she continues to chair its International Committee.

Roberta (“Bobbi”) Liebenberg is a senior partner at Fine, Kaplan and Black in Philadelphia and also a principal in The Red Bee Group, a women-owned consulting group that helps businesses, organizations, and law firms achieve their goals and uses data-based strategies with diverse and innovative solutions. She focuses her practice on antitrust, class actions, and complex commercial litigation.

She has written and spoken extensively about many issues of importance to women lawyers, including co-authoring groundbreaking reports about bullying in the legal profession (“Bullying in the Legal Profession: A Study of Illinois Lawyers’ Experiences and Recommendations for Change”); the effect of motherhood on the careers of women lawyers (“Legal Careers of Parents and Child Caregivers-Results and Best Practices from a National Study of the Legal Profession”); the attrition of experienced women lawyers from the profession (“Walking Out the Door-The Facts, Figures and Future of Experienced Women Lawyers in Private Practice”); the underrepresentation of women as lead counsel in lawsuits (“First Chairs at Trial-More Women Need Seats at the Table”); and the effect of the pandemic on women lawyers (“Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward-The Results and Best Practices from a Nationwide Survey of the Legal Profession”).

She has also served as Chair of numerous organizations devoted to gender equality in the profession, including the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, the ABA Gender Equity Task Force, the ABA Presidential Initiative on Achieving Long Term Careers for Women in Law, DirectWomen (the only organization devoted to increasing the number of women attorneys on corporate boards), the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations’ respective committees on women in the profession, and the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness.

She was recently named by Forbes Magazine as one of “America’s Top 200 Lawyers,” and the National Law Journal named her as one of the “50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America.” She is a recipient of The American Lawyer’s Lifetime Achievement Award; was inducted into the American Antitrust Institute Private Enforcement Hall of Fame and the ABA Antitrust Law Section’s “Hall of Fame-inism;” and received the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award from the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession; the Judge Learned Hand Award from the American Jewish Committee; the Lynette Norton Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association; the Sandra Day O’Connor Award and Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association; the Florence K. Murray Award from the National Association of Women Judges; the Hortense Ward Courageous Leader Award from the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas School of Law; the Martha Fay Africa Golden Hammer Award from the ABA’s Law Practice Division; and Lifetime Achievement Awards from Corporate Counsel and Inside Counsel, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Legal Intelligencer. She was named by former Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell as a “Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.” The National Law Journal named her as one of the “Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar;” Law360 named her as one of the “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar;” and Business Today listed her as one of the “Top Ten Influential Antitrust Plaintiffs’ Attorneys.”