State Court Diversity and Attorney Discipline

State supreme courts are the ultimate arbiters of attorney behavior for members of the state bar. While state supreme courts generally oversee an office of attorney regulation that handles the intake, investigation, and some adjudication of disciplinary complaints, each state supreme court is potentially the final decision maker regarding possible sanctions for attorney behavior. In many states, however, the state supreme court bar is substantially less diverse along lines of race and gender than the state bar it regulates