Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Law
Role Differentiation And Lawyer's Ethics: A Critique Of Some Academic Perspectives, William H. Simon
Role Differentiation And Lawyer's Ethics: A Critique Of Some Academic Perspectives, William H. Simon
Faculty Scholarship
Much recent academic discussion exaggerates the distance between plausible legal ethics and ordinary morality. This essay criticizes three prominent strands of discussion: one drawing on the moral philosophy of personal virtue, one drawing on legal philosophy, and a third drawing on utilitarianism of the law-and-economics variety. The essay uses as a central reference point the "Mistake-of-Law" scenario in which a lawyer must decide whether to rescue an opposing party from the unjust consequences of his own lawyer's error I argue that academic efforts to shore up the professional inclination against rescue are not plausible. I conclude by recommending an older …