Law Commons^™

Institutional And Individual Justification In Legal Ethics: The Problem Of Client Selection, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Institutional And Individual Justification In Legal Ethics: The Problem Of Client Selection, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Monroe Freedman is well known as a proponent of the "standard conception" of legal ethics - that is, that a lawyer cannot be criticized in moral terms for actions taken in a representative capacity. Surprisingly, however, Freedman has argued that client selection is a decision for which a lawyer may be required to provide a justification in ordinary moral terms. This apparent inconsistency reveals a conceptual distinction in normative ethical theory, which is often blurred, between justifying a practice (in this case, the legal system or some specialized practice such as criminal defense) and justifying an action falling within the …

What's Wrong With Being Creative And Aggressive?, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

When I tell people that I am a law professor specializing in legal ethics, they usually have one of two reactions: “Legal ethics—that’s an oxymoron!” or “I bet you always have a lot to do.” The second reaction is the more interesting of the two, because it rightly implies that legal ethics is a fascinating field, in part because lawyers are always thinking of new ways to get into trouble. Many run-of-the-mill lawyer disciplinary cases involve simple wrongdoing, such as stealing from client funds, which does not present conceptually interesting issues. Contemporary high-profile legal ethics scandals, by contrast, are made …

Legal Ethics And The Separation Of Law And Morals, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper explores the jurisprudential question of the relationship between moral values and legal norms in legal advising and counseling in the context of an analysis of the so-called torture memos prepared by lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel in 2002. The principal claim of the paper is that the torture memos are morally bankrupt because they are legally bankrupt. The lawyers' actions were wrong from a moral point of view because the lawyers failed with respect to their obligation to treat the law with respect, not simply as an inconvenient obstacle to be planned around. The morality of …

Economic Rationality Vs. Ethical Reasonableness: The Relevance Of Law And Economics For Legal Ethics, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: Singapore, Calvin Wl Ho

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of Singapore. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: Thailand, Ngamnet Triamanuruck, Sansanee Phongpala, Sirikanang Chaiyasuta

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of Thailand. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: People's Republic Of China, Zengguang (Bill) Huo, Yuhua Shi

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of the People's Republic of China. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: Indonesia, Yosea Iskandar

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of Indonesia. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: South Korea, Oh Seung Jin

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of South Korea. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: Japan, Junko Gono, Mitsutaka Hibino, Koh Hinokawa, Sonosuke Kamiya, Hirofumi Maki, Shigeki Nishiyama, Hirotoshi Osajima, Masahiro Oshima, Yurika Yamauchi

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of Japan. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: Republic Of China, Taiwan, Peggy (Pei Yi) Wen

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of Taiwan. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Civil Obedience, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Discussions of legal ethics generally assume that lawyers should deliberate straightforwardly on the basis of reasons to act or refrain from acting. This model of deliberation fails to account for the role of the law in resolving normative disagreement and coordinating social activity by people who do not share comprehensive ethical doctrines. The law represents a collective decision about what citizens ought to do, which replaces the reasons individuals would otherwise have to act. This Article contends that legal ethics ought to be understood as an aspect of this theory of the authority of law. On this account, lawyers have …

On International And Interdisciplinary Legal Ethics Scholarship, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

"Legal Ethics is an international and interdisciplinary journal dedicated to the field of legal ethics." The mission statement of this journal poses three concise challenges for scholars in this discipline: To define the domain of legal ethics, to study it from a perspective that is valid across jurisdictional boundaries, and to incorporate the insights of related disciplines. As befits an emerging and exciting field, lawyers and university faculty throughout the English- speaking common-law world have begun to engage with all three of these problems. The book reviews section of Legal Ethics has highlighted the publication of many of the …

Legal And Ethical Duties Of Lawyers After Sarbanes-Oxley, Roger C. Cramton, George M. Cohen, Susan P. Koniak

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Busting The Professional Trust: A Comment On William Simon’S Ladd Lecture, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

It is truly an honor to be asked to Comment on the work of William Simon, one of the scholars who has done the most to contribute to the reputation of legal ethics as a field with intellectual rigor and depth, as well as one with significant implications for legal theory generally. The power of his critical faculties is unmatched: the platitudes offered by the organized bar in defense of the dominant view of legal ethics lie in tatters after the sustained assault in the first three chapters of The Practice of Justice. In fact, it can be difficult …

Informal Methods Of Enhancing The Accountability Of Lawyers, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

What Is A Reasonable Attorney Fee? An Empirical Study Of Class Action Settlements, Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey P. Miller

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Determining an appropriate fee is a difficult task facing trial court judges in class action litigation. But courts rarely rely on empirical research to assess a fee’s reasonableness, due, at least in part, to the relative paucity of available information. Existing empirical studies of attorney fees in class action cases are limited in scope, and generally do not control for important variables. To help fill this gap, we analyzed data from all state and federal class actions with reported fee decisions from 1993 to 2002 in which the fee and class recovery could be determined with reasonable confidence.

We find …

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Lawyer-Bashing: Some Post-Conference Reflections, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reason And Authority In Legal Ethics, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Lawyers Without The Code, The Rules, Or The Restatement: Or, What Do Honor And Shame Have To Do With Civil Discovery Practice?, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

One of the most striking things to notice when "looking back" on the regulation of the legal profession is the relative absence of enforceable legal sanctions for unethical behavior by lawyers. Before the promulgation in 1970 of the ABA's Model Code of Professional Responsibility, regulation of the legal profession was largely a matter of a fraternal body taking care of its own, and occasionally expelling miscreants. Now, of course, there is a complex body of law, enforced by courts and regulatory authorities with overlapping jurisdiction, that governs a substantial amount of the day-to-day activities of lawyers.

The hypothesis I explore …

Lawyer Ethics On The Lunar Landscape Of Asbestos Litigation, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Our Love-Hate Relationship With Heroic Lawyers, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Conflicts Of Interest Under The Revised Model Rules, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Deception In Morality And Law, Larry Alexander, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Enron And The Corporate Lawyer: A Primer On Legal And Ethical Issues, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The stunning collapse of Enron, coupled with the large number of accounting irregularities and apparent corporate fraud, have created a climate in which reform and improvement of the law governing corporate lawyers is underway. The ABA Task Force on Corporate Responsibility has issued a preliminary report that recommends promising changes in the rules of professional conduct. And, the Corporate Reform Act of 2002 has changed the landscape by authorizing the SEC to promulgate rules of professional conduct for securities lawyers and directing the SEC to issue a rule requiring securities lawyers to climb the corporate ladder to prevent or rectify …

Ethics 2000 And Conflicts Of Interest: The More Things Change . . . ., Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Comparative Multi-Disciplinary Practice Of Law: Paths Taken And Not Taken, Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

It is always an interesting journey to return to one's roots, and many of the most important of my personal and professional roots are here in Cleveland, including my birth and the first twenty years of life. Subsequent wanderings have taken me far from here, but always to return. We consider here another set of journeys and pathways that are institutional, not personal. The paths traversed are both national and international, and they will take us on journeys that are far from completed. They concern the ways in which various contemporary legal cultures have so far approached the subject of …

Teaching Ethics In An Atmosphere Of Skepticism And Relativism, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

I would like to do several things in this essay. First, I am interested in the sources of students' wariness about moral reasoning and claims about objectivity and truth in ethics. Sometimes I feel like a teacher of geography who must confront a deeply entrenched belief that the earth is flat. The earth is not flat, nor is ethics just a matter of opinion, but one wonders why students persist in thinking the opposite. Teaching effectively requires an understanding of where students are coming from. Accordingly, the opening section of this essay is structured around a series of hypotheses to …

“Certain Fundamental Truths”: A Dialectic On Negative And Positive Liberty In Hate-Speech Cases, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.