Jason R. Bent has been appointed as the new director of the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workforce at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Bent, who also joins as a professor, comes to Chicago-Kent after 14 years at Stetson University College of Law in Florida, where he served as associate dean for academic affairs for five years.
Bent’s background includes teaching roles at Washington University School of Law and Penn State Dickinson Law. He began his legal career in Chicago after earning his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, clerking for federal judges in Illinois and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“A decent percentage of the docket during my clerkships was employment discrimination and other employment-related cases,” Bent said. “I wasn’t shocked, but it definitely was a bit of a revelation. I didn’t necessarily walk into that district court clerkship expecting that about a third of my work would be employment discrimination work. But I found that I really enjoyed the cases.”
He practiced law in Chicago for nine years, first with Foley & Lardner LLP and then at Smith & Bent, P.C., focusing on employment discrimination litigation including systemic cases.
Bent is co-author of three course books and contributes to a leading treatise on statistical evidence in discrimination cases. He emphasizes the importance of statistical analysis in proving disparate impact in employment practices: “It may turn out that an otherwise facially neutral job requirement or hiring process, such as clearing an artificial intelligence interview screening tool, falls more harshly on one group than another. You can imagine the possibility that the AI tool might weed out more minority applicants, or more female applicants, or perhaps more applicants who were not born in the United States. If that’s the case, then the tool has a disparate impact,” Bent explained. “But in order to figure out whether it is actually causing a disparate impact, you have to do some statistical analysis. And if it is having a disparate impact, then the next questions are whether there is a good business justification for use of the tool, and whether the employer can accomplish those legitimate business goals in a way that has less of a disparate impact.”
Bent noted how indirect proof is often required: “Sophisticated employers understand the law, so they don’t tell someone, ‘We’re not hiring you because you’re a minority, or we’re firing you because you’re a woman.’ That kind of express, open discrimination is relatively rare now,” he said.
“Discrimination is a fascinating problem of indirect proof, because ultimately what you’re trying to figure out is what the employer was thinking when it made its decision, but that’s a really hard question to get at.”
Reflecting on his new role at Chicago-Kent’s Malin Institute—a program he describes as top-ranked—Bent credited founder Marty Malin: “He built up a team of people around him, and he was instrumental in building a program here that is the top labor and employment program in the country. Many of his former students are now leaders in the labor and employment law community... To have the chance to be a part of this program is truly an honor.”
Having worked both in Illinois and Florida—states with contrasting approaches to labor laws—Bent brings experience navigating differences across jurisdictions: “Illinois is on the cutting edge of some labor and employment protections,” he said. “For example, in Illinois we have the leading example of a biometrics protections statute that protects employees from having their biometric information—such as their fingerprints, their retinal scans—collected and used by employers without consent...”
Bent expressed enthusiasm about mentoring future lawyers: “Regardless of what path a law student chooses to take after earning their degree,” he said,“I’m hoping that I will have the opportunity to help launch the careers of some of tomorrow’s labor and employment law leaders.”