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Full-Text Articles in Law
Reasoned Decision-Making For Ethics Regulation, John S. Dzienkowski, John M. Golden
Reasoned Decision-Making For Ethics Regulation, John S. Dzienkowski, John M. Golden
Fordham Law Review
Many lawyers and scholars have criticized the ethics rules developed by the organized legal profession to regulate the practice of law. Complaints about processes for generating new ethics rules and ethics opinions interpreting ethics rules commonly reflect concerns about failures to engage in reasoned decision-making. Rationales for the proposed rules or the opinions proffered by bar associations, courts, or agencies are often incomplete or inadequately supported, and one must imagine that the quality of resulting rules or their interpretations often suffers. We argue that administrative law provides a model for how courts can address such concerns—a model that courts, both …
A Fiduciary Judge's Guide To Awarding Fees In Class Actions, Brian T. Fitzpatricj
A Fiduciary Judge's Guide To Awarding Fees In Class Actions, Brian T. Fitzpatricj
Fordham Law Review
It is often said that judges act as fiduciaries for the absent class members in class action litigation. If we take this seriously, how then should judges award fees to the lawyers who represent these class members? The answer is to award fees the same way rational class members would want if they could do it on their own. In this Essay, I draw on economic models and data from the market for legal representation of sophisticated clients to describe what these fee practices should look like. Although more data from sophisticated clients is no doubt needed, what we do …
The Race To The Top To Reduce Prosecutorial Misconduct, Adam M. Gershowitz
The Race To The Top To Reduce Prosecutorial Misconduct, Adam M. Gershowitz
Fordham Law Review
This Essay offers an unconventional approach to detering prosecutorial misconduct. Trial judges should use their inherent authority to forbid prosecutors from appearing and handling cases in their courtrooms until the prosecutors have completed training on Brady v. Maryland, Batson v. Kentucky, and other types of prosecutorial misconduct. If a single trial judge in a medium-sized or large jurisdiction imposes training prerequisites on prosecutors, it could set off a race to the top that encourages other judges to adopt similar (or perhaps even more rigorous) training requirements. A mandate that prosecutors receive ethics training before handling any cases is comparable to …
Judicial Ethics In The #Metoo World, Renee Knake Jefferson
Judicial Ethics In The #Metoo World, Renee Knake Jefferson
Fordham Law Review
This Article examines the judicial role in professional ethics regulation through the lens of the judiciary’s own self-governance on sexual misconduct. The #MeToo movement exposed the long-enduring silence of the courts. Headlines featured judges like Alex Kozinski, who retired from the Ninth Circuit in 2018 after numerous former clerks went to the media with credible allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2019, at the instruction of Chief Justice Roberts, the federal judiciary amended the Code of Conduct for United States Judges to make clear that misconduct includes unwanted, offensive, or abusive sexual conduct and to include protections for those who report …
State Court Diversity And Attorney Discipline, Nancy Leong
State Court Diversity And Attorney Discipline, Nancy Leong
Fordham Law Review
State supreme courts are the ultimate arbiters of attorney behavior for members of the state bar. While state supreme courts generally oversee an office of attorney regulation that handles the intake, investigation, and some adjudication of disciplinary complaints, each state supreme court is potentially the final decision maker regarding possible sanctions for attorney behavior. In many states, however, the state supreme court bar is substantially less diverse along lines of race and gender than the state bar it regulates
Judges' Ethical Duties To Ensure Fair Treatment Of Indigent Parties, Tom Lininger
Judges' Ethical Duties To Ensure Fair Treatment Of Indigent Parties, Tom Lininger
Fordham Law Review
In this Essay, I will argue that the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Code of Judicial Conduct (“the Model Code”) should more squarely address the challenges faced by low-income litigants. Amendments should make clear that judges have a duty to ensure the fair treatment of the indigent in the U.S. legal system.
Playing By The Rule: How Aba Model Rule 8.4(G) Can Regulate Jury Exclusion, Anna Offit
Playing By The Rule: How Aba Model Rule 8.4(G) Can Regulate Jury Exclusion, Anna Offit
Fordham Law Review
Discrimination during voir dire remains a critical impediment to empaneling juries that reflect the diversity of the United States. While various solutions have been proposed, scholars have largely overlooked ethics rules as an instrument for preventing discriminatory behavior during jury selection. Focusing on American Bar Association Model Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(g), which regulates professional misconduct, this Article argues that ethics rules may, under certain conditions, deter the exclusionary practices of legal actors. Part I examines the specific history, evolution, and application of revised Model Rule 8.4(g). Part II delves into the ways that ethics rules in general, despite their …
Evidence-Based Promulgation: The Rulemaking Process For Rules Of Professional Conduct, Emily S. Taylor Poppe
Evidence-Based Promulgation: The Rulemaking Process For Rules Of Professional Conduct, Emily S. Taylor Poppe
Fordham Law Review
This Article proceeds in three parts. Part I considers variation in the rule promulgation process across the states. Part II identifies ways in which the promulgation process might be reformed on the basis of empirical evidence. Part III considers the potential benefits and limitations to this approach and is followed by a brief conclusion
How Should We License Lawyers?, Cassandra Burke Robertson
How Should We License Lawyers?, Cassandra Burke Robertson
Fordham Law Review
What would a licensing regime designed around client protection look like? This Article proposes that it would include a narrower but more active judicial role. A one-size-fits-all exam would no longer control entry into the profession. The state judiciary would not be the gatekeeper for the entire legal profession; instead, its licensing role would focus on those attorneys who represent individual clients in court and those who manage client funds. But for this subset of lawyers, state judges should take a larger and more active role in overseeing the transition from student to advocate and should require greater practice readiness …
Judge's And The Deregulation Of The Lawyer's Monopoly, Jessica K. Steinberg, Et Al.
Judge's And The Deregulation Of The Lawyer's Monopoly, Jessica K. Steinberg, Et Al.
Fordham Law Review
Drawing on original data from a cross-jurisdictional investigation of the civil justice landscape, this Article shows how some judges—mired in the pro se crisis—are relying on a shadow network of nonlawyer professionals to substitute for the role counsel has traditionally played. Focusing on domestic violence courts as the primary illustration, we find that even in jurisdictions not currently contemplating regulatory reform, judges are relying on organized nonlawyer actors to prepare pleadings, offer substantive and procedural information to litigants, and provide counseling services. These nonlawyer advocates play a significant role in shaping the facts and arguments presented to the judge, which …