On the heels of a September survey of Connecticut attorneys showing several hundred of them had either witnessed or experienced harassment, sexual harassment or discrimination, the incoming head of the Connecticut Bar Association said it was time to address the issue head-on.

So Cecil Thomas, the association’s president-elect, helped develop a proposed addition to Rule 8.4 of the Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct. That proposed rule, 8.4(7), is mirrored after the American Bar Association’s rule dealing with harassment and discrimination.