Fewer Lawyers Take Bias Suits, Surveys Find

Minorities are having a harder time finding lawyers willing to take on job discrimination cases because of adverse Supreme Court rulings that this year’s civil rights bill would overturn, two surveys released Wednesday indicate.

The surveys by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Employment Lawyers Assn. were supported by statements from federal judges and minority complainants.

The legal defense fund said 64% of the civil rights lawyers it interviewed say that one of the court decisions, which makes it harder to fight discriminatory job rules, has deterred them from filing claims.

The lawyers association survey of its members indicated that 38% of the respondents said the court decisions have forced them to reduce the number of cases they handle or decline to handle them altogether, because they now are too difficult to win.

Fred Gittes, a lawyers association director, said: “Fewer and fewer lawyers are doing civil rights work, which makes it impossible for those suffering from discrimination to do anything about it.”

The lawyers group also produced more than a dozen written statements from federal judges acknowledging a growing shortage of discrimination lawyers. The judges included the statements in case rulings to explain why they were awarding higher-than-usual lawyer fees. They said it was to encourage more lawyers to take on discrimination cases.

The nationwide lawyers association survey was based on responses from 120 of the group’s approximately 1,000 members who were sent a questionnaire.

The legal defense fund survey was based on interviews with 56 civil rights lawyers.