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Professional Responsibility Of The Civil Practitioner: Teaching Legal Ethics In The Contracts Course, Monroe H. Freedman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

In two earlier papers I have written about the professional responsibility of the attorney in criminal practice. Surprisingly, a number of intelligent and experienced lawyers have suggested that problems of the same kind and complexity do not arise, at least with the same frequency, in the work of the civil practitioner. This is a serious misconception, although there are certainly important differences in the civil practitioner's role. For example, unlike the criminal defense lawyer, the civil practitioner does not have the same problems relating to the presumption of innocence, the constitutional right to counsel, and the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination.? …