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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Transformative Potential Of Attorney Bilingualism, Jayesh M. Rathod
The Transformative Potential Of Attorney Bilingualism, Jayesh M. Rathod
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
In contemporary U.S. law practice, attorney bilingualism is increasingly valued, primarily because it allows lawyers to work more efficiently and to pursue a broader range of professional opportunities. This purely functionalist conceptualization of attorney bilingualism, however, ignores the surprising ways in which multilingualism can enhance a lawyer's professional work and can strengthen and reshape relationships among actors in the U.S. legal milieu. Drawing upon research from psychology, linguistics, and other disciplines, this Article advances a theory of the transformative potential of attorney bilingualism. Looking first to the development of lawyers themselves, the Article posits that attorneys who operate bilingually may, …
Reform That Understands Our Seniors: How Interdisciplinary Services Can Help Solve The Capacity Riddle In Elder Law, Thomas Richard Stasi
Reform That Understands Our Seniors: How Interdisciplinary Services Can Help Solve The Capacity Riddle In Elder Law, Thomas Richard Stasi
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note suggests an interdisciplinary approach to assist in determinations of legal capacity. It also urges an amendment to the Model Rules and current law firm business models, so attorneys can better approach capacity challenges. While this Note does not presume to resolve the problems faced by capacity determinations, the purpose is to offer functional alternatives to the current working models. Part I reviews the Model Rules' treatment of capacity issues, detailing attorneys' conflicting ethical duties and the ambiguous methodology for capacity evaluations. Part II examines the customary processes that attorneys presently follow for seeking diagnostic evaluations and highlights their …
Lawyer As Emotional Laborer, Sofia Yakren
Lawyer As Emotional Laborer, Sofia Yakren
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Prevailing norms of legal practice teach lawyers to detach their independent moral judgments from their professional performance-to advocate zealously for their clients while remaining morally unaccountable agents of those clients' causes. Although these norms have been subjected to prominent critiques by legal ethicists, this Article analyzes them instead through the lens of "emotional labor," a sociological theory positing that workers required to induce or suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance mandated by organizational rules face substantial psychological risks. By subordinating their personal feelings and values to displays of zealous advocacy on behalf of others, lawyers, too, may …