In her 2015 book, The Trouble with Lawyers, Deborah Rhode recalled how, as a law student at Yale in the mid-1970s, she came face-to-face with the desperate deficit of legal services for the poor in this country—and the intransigence of the legal profession. She was interning at a legal aid office, where demand far outstripped the capacity to supply legal representation. So, Rhode and her colleagues created a simple “how-to” kit—a precursor to the many tools now available online for self-representation. But the effort was quickly threatened with legal action by local bar association officials who charged the group with the unauthorized practice of law.

That early insight not only became the through line for Rhode’s prolific academic career—but it also put her on the cutting edge of the profession.

“The current plight of indigent criminal and civil litigants is an embarrassment to any civilized nation, let alone one that considers itself a world leader on the rule of law,” said Rhode, the then-Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and director of the Center on the Legal Profession, in a 2015 interview for Stanford Lawyer.

In 2008, Rhode founded the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession and launched the Roadmap to Justice Project to heighten awareness of issues surrounding access to justice. And she made sure that innovation was part of the center’s research. “In the United States, some of the impetus for legal innovation has been blocked by restrictive bar rules on the unauthorized practice of law,” she said in a 2013 Stanford Lawyer article. “Technology has opened our eyes to the ways that traditional licensing structures have impeded effective and efficient delivery of services.”

Rhode passed away on January 8 at the age of 68. She leaves behind her husband, Ralph Cavanagh, her sister, Christine Rhode, and eight nieces and nephews.

A world-renowned scholar in the study of legal ethics and the legal profession, Rhode also held the distinction of being the country’s most frequently cited legal ethicist.

“She was a pathbreaker. A towering intellect,” says Nora Freeman Engstrom, JD ’02, who was recently appointed as the new Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and co-director of the Center on the Legal Profession, and was one of Rhode’s co-authors of Legal Ethics. “But for me, her most indelible mark was distinctly personal. She was one of the best friends I’ll ever have. As soon as I arrived on the Stanford faculty, she took me under her wing, providing a sounding board, mentorship, tough love, and steadfast devotion. She had a huge heart, a quick wit, and a spine of steel.”

“Deborah was a pioneering woman on the Stanford faculty when she joined the law school in 1979. A beloved teacher and mentor to many, she will be missed by her faculty colleagues, current and former students, and generations of lawyers and legal scholars across the globe,” says Jenny S. Martinez, Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean. “She was a tireless advocate for a vision of law as public service, and an advocate in the profession for women, people of color and others who felt marginalized. It is hard for me to imagine Stanford Law School without her.”

Deborah L. Rhode was born in Evanston, Illinois, on January 29, 1952. In high school, she was a nationally ranked debater; one of her favorite rivals was Merrick Garland, who went on to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit before being named U.S. Attorney General in the Biden administration.

Rhode attended Yale University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, and then Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Law Journal and director of the Moot Court Board. In 1977-1978, she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and  then joined the Stanford Law School faculty, becoming the second woman to receive tenure.

At Stanford Law, Rhode was a mentor and inspiration to students and new colleagues alike.

“In retaining Professor Rhode on the faculty, Stanford Law School held lightning in a bottle for nearly half a century,” said Sarah Zandi, JD ’21 and Claire Fieldman, JD ’22, in a note on behalf of members of Stanford Women in Law. “Professor Rhode was a mentor to hundreds, and for those of us who could count ourselves in those numbers, we could also count ourselves lucky. It was clear how committed Professor Rhode was not only to the advancement of women’s legal rights but also the advancement of all women in the law.”

Mark Chandler, JD ’81, chief legal officer and EVP at Cisco Systems, recalls, “When I first encountered Deborah Rhode as my Legal Ethics professor in 1981, I was struck by the clarity of her vision, the discipline of her intellect, and the reach of her scholarship. She knew how to cast a bright light on aspects of the profession that were often taken for granted.”

“Deborah was such a towering figure in the legal profession not only because of her monumental work on leadership and legal ethics, but because she modeled what it meant to be a principled leader and ethical human being in every aspect of her life,” says Shirin Sinnar, JD ’03, professor of law and John A. Wilson Faculty Scholar.

“She was a tireless advocate for a vision of law as public service, and an advocate in the profession for women, people of color, and others who felt marginalized. It is hard for me to imagine Stanford Law School without her.”

—Jenny S. Martinez, Richard E. Lang
Professor of Law and Dean

As a mentor, Rhode walked the walk—literally.

“Her walks were legendary; she regularly invited colleagues, especially more junior colleagues, to walk with her to provide support and mentorship. I always admired the candor, authenticity, warmth, care for one’s well-being, and commitment to service that Deborah modeled throughout all my interactions with her over the years, including those regular afternoon walks,” adds Sinnar.

And Rhode was a generous collaborator.

“Deborah was the nation’s leading legal ethics scholar—not only because of her many books and articles, but also because she mentored so many of us. One measure is the list of her co-authors: I stopped counting at 30. She had boundless generosity and boundless energy,” says David Luban, professor of law and philosophy at Georgetown Law, and co-author of Legal Ethics.

“She founded the field of legal ethics, infused it with intellectual rigor, and insisted that it stand for values of justice, access, and equality,” says Scott Cummings, professor of law at UCLA School of Law and also a co-author of Legal Ethics. “She not only made it legitimate to study lawyers, and their role in society, but made it possible to demand that they live up to their very highest principles—and never hesitated to call them out when they failed. Especially given the role of lawyers in this dark period of American history, her loss leaves a gaping hole, but her indelible words and influence on all who she has touched mean that her voice, always speaking truth to power, will echo forward forever.”

As the president of the Association of American Law Schools, Rhode led an initiative that established an Association Section on Pro Bono Service and Public Interest Law. As founding president of the International Association of Legal Ethics, she helped ensure that pro bono service and equal justice initiatives were central to legal educators’ global agenda. She also served as senior counsel to the minority members of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary on presidential impeachment issues during the Clinton administration. She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and vice chair of the board of Legal Momentum (formerly the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund).

In recognition of her work, she received the American Bar Association’s Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award, the American Bar Foundation’s W. M. Keck Foundation Award for distinguished scholarship on legal ethics, the American Foundation’s Distinguished Scholar award, the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award for expanding public service opportunities in law schools, and a White House Champion of Change Award for a lifetime dedicated to increasing access to justice.

Rhode was also active in Stanford University leadership. She was the founder and former director of Stanford’s Center on Ethics, the founder and former director of the Stanford Program on Social Entrepreneurship, and the former director of the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford.

In 2003, Stanford Law School established the Deborah L. Rhode Public Interest Award, presented annually to a graduating student who has demonstrated outstanding non-scholarly public service during law school.

“Deborah was a pioneer and leader in every field she touched—sex discrimination, professional responsibility, pro bono legal practice, women and leadership, and just plain leadership,” says Paul Brest, former dean and professor emeritus (active). “We will all miss her, but her imprint on the legal profession and academy will endure.”

Rhode’s scholarly legacy is firmly set in the 30 books and 200 articles she penned, many focusing on access to justice, pro bono service, and reforming the legal profession—including Lawyers as Leaders, In the Interests of Justice, The Beauty Bias, Women and Leadership, and Justice and Gender.

“This slight, seemingly delicate woman was a gigantic figure in the study of the legal profession and in movements to reform it,” says Robert W. Gordon, professor of law. “On many, many topics—like class conflicts in class actions, character-and-fitness requirements for admission to the bar, the legal monopoly’s policing of unauthorized practice, just to name a few—hers is the definitive work that everyone else cites and follows. But she didn’t just write about problems with the profession and its ethics: She took practical action.” SL