Overview

Breaking Barriers: Implicit Bias and Microaggressions in Law

Implicit bias operates beneath conscious awareness — and in legal practice, it can quietly shape case strategy, client relationships, jury selection, and courtroom arguments in ways most attorneys never recognize. This CLE seminar, taught by Dr. Jennifer Sweeton — a clinical and forensic psychologist, neuroscientist, and attorney — gives you the neuroscience behind why bias forms, how it shows up in legal work, and what you can do about it.

Implicit Bias and Microaggressions Defined

You'll start with clear definitions of implicit bias (unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that shape decisions without your awareness) and microaggressions (brief, often automatic verbal and nonverbal slights directed at someone based on group identity). These are typically committed by well-intentioned people who don't realize the messages they're sending — which is exactly what makes them so persistent and so hard to address without targeted training.

Impact on Legal Practice

This isn't abstract. The course walks through specific ways implicit bias affects legal work: how it damages client trust and engagement, leads attorneys to undervalue claims or settle cases prematurely, distorts witness credibility assessments, shifts negotiation dynamics with opposing counsel and insurance adjusters, weakens jury persuasion by producing arguments that don't resonate with diverse panels, and introduces bias into voir dire — where attorneys may exclude jurors based on assumptions rather than evidence. In criminal law, implicit bias can influence outcomes at every stage from arrest to sentencing.

The Neuroscience of Implicit Bias

Dr. Sweeton brings her neuroscience training directly into this section, covering five brain regions involved in bias: the amygdala (fear processing, threat detection, and where implicit memories are stored), the prefrontal cortex (executive function, decision-making, and social behavior), the cingulate cortex (self-regulation and error detection), the hippocampus (long-term memory and association-making), and the insula. You'll also learn the rules of neuroplasticity — how repeated experience strengthens or weakens neural pathways, why the brain creates shortcuts for efficiency, and why those shortcuts often default to negative, safety-oriented associations.

ABA Ethics and Professional Conduct

While the ABA Model Rules don't explicitly mention "implicit bias" or "microaggressions," the ABA has addressed both through resolutions and rule amendments. This section covers Resolution 107 (urging cultural competency training in legal services), Model Rule 8.4(g) (prohibiting harassment and discrimination in practice-related conduct based on race, sex, religion, national origin, and other protected characteristics), and why these provisions matter for attorneys who want to stay ahead of their ethical obligations.

Identifying and Addressing Implicit Bias and Microaggressions

The course closes with a practical framework: build competence through education, understand your own identity and biases, learn to recognize microaggressions when they happen, and address them directly. Concrete strategies include seeking experiences with people different from you, slowing down and being intentional with your caseload, getting second opinions, and creating counter-examples to stereotypes. Each strategy is tied back to specific neurological goals — reducing amygdala activation, strengthening the prefrontal and cingulate cortex — so you understand not just what to do, but why it works at the brain level.