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Full-Text Articles in Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility

Regulating The Public Defender Identity, Irene Oritseweyinmi Joe Mar 2024

Regulating The Public Defender Identity, Irene Oritseweyinmi Joe

Fordham Law Review

The public defender institution has trouble meeting its mission. This is partly because, despite the specific and clear purpose of representing indigent defendants in criminal proceedings, public defender offices rely on various centering principles to meet this objective. The institution falters if it chooses a centering principle that unwittingly complicates its ability to meet the institution’s central mission. For public defender leaders tasked with developing and maintaining an institutional identity for a particular office, neither legal nor professional regulations supply the type of considerations that guarantee that an adopted identity will comply with core institutional responsibilities. This project seeks to …


Foreword, Bennett Capers, Bruce A. Green Apr 2022

Foreword, Bennett Capers, Bruce A. Green

Fordham Law Review

Is there such a thing as subversive lawyering? And if so, what is it? These are the questions that motivate this colloquium issue. To be sure, other, similar terms exist and have been explicated. Movement lawyering. Rebellious lawyering. Resistance lawyering. Indeed,we were particularly inspired by Daniel Farbman’s article Resistance Lawyering, in which he uncovers the stories of abolitionist lawyers who, confronting the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, “employed every means at their disposal to frustrate, delay, and dismantle the system within which they were practicing.” But still, we wondered if subversive lawyering might be something different. Something akin to resistance …


Progressive Prosecutors Are Not Trying To Dismantle The Master’S House, And The Master Wouldn’T Let Them Anyway, Paul Butler Apr 2022

Progressive Prosecutors Are Not Trying To Dismantle The Master’S House, And The Master Wouldn’T Let Them Anyway, Paul Butler

Fordham Law Review

The first thing to note about Audre Lorde’s famous phrase “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” is that it cannot literally be true. If tools can dismantle the master’s house, the master’s own tools would be good as anyone’s. The main problem would not be that the tools don’t work, but rather how to get them to the people who most need the master’s house dismantled—the enslaved ones. But the considerable work that the phrase does in social justice movements and critical theory is figurative rather than literal. It is usually intended as a rebuke of liberal …


A Commons In The Master’S House, Daniel Farbman Apr 2022

A Commons In The Master’S House, Daniel Farbman

Fordham Law Review

Almost everyone who reads these words is an institutional insider in some form. Those of us who aspire toward transformation, liberation, and resistance from our institutional settings are forced to confront Audre Lorde’s striking admonition that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” For some, finding themselves in the master’s house is a spur towards purism—a rejection of institutional power in search of a “pure” remove from which to critique it. For others, it is a dispiriting check on their aspirations and an invitation to sullen fatalism. This Essay questions whether we are bound to the hard consequences …


When We Fight, We Win: Eviction Defense As Subversive Lawyering, Eloise Lawrence Apr 2022

When We Fight, We Win: Eviction Defense As Subversive Lawyering, Eloise Lawrence

Fordham Law Review

This Essay will examine the “sword and shield” model in action to explore the meaning of “subversive lawyering” in the housing context, particularly in eviction defense. In this model, we—the lawyers and law students— provide the “shield” (i.e., legal defense), while the organizers and members of grassroots housing justice organizations provide the “sword” (i.e., public pressure and protest). The lawyers are shielding tenants and foreclosed homeowners in the courts, which allows these “defendants” to simultaneously work with organizers to take necessary extralegal actions to ensure they are protected from displacement.


Bargaining For Abolition, Zohra Ahmed Jan 2022

Bargaining For Abolition, Zohra Ahmed

Fordham Law Review

What if instead of seeing criminal court as an institution driven by the operation of rules, we saw it as a workplace where people labor to criminalize those with the misfortune to be prosecuted? Early observers of twentieth century urban criminal courts likened them to factories. Since then, commentators often deploy the pejorative epithet “assembly line justice” to describe criminal court’s processes. The term conveys the criticism of a mechanical system delivering a form of justice that is impersonal and fallible. Perhaps unintentionally, the epithet reveals another truth: criminal court is also a workplace, and it takes labor to keep …


Subversive Legal Education:Reformist Steps Towardabolitionist Visions, Christina John, Russell G. Pearce, Aundray Jermaine Archer, Sarah Medina Camiscoli, Aron Pines, Maryam Salmanova, Vira Tarnavska Jan 2022

Subversive Legal Education:Reformist Steps Towardabolitionist Visions, Christina John, Russell G. Pearce, Aundray Jermaine Archer, Sarah Medina Camiscoli, Aron Pines, Maryam Salmanova, Vira Tarnavska

Fordham Law Review

Exclusivity in legal education divides traditional scholars, students, and impacted communities most disproportionately harmed by the legal education system. While traditional legal scholars tend to embrace traditional legal education, organic jurists—those who are historically excluded from legal education and those who educate themselves and their communities about their legal rights and realities—often reject the inaccessibility of legal education and its power. This Essay joins a team of community legal writers to imagine a set of principles for subversive legal education. Together, we—formerly incarcerated pro se litigants, paralegals for intergenerational movement lawyering initiatives, first-generation law students and lawyers, persons with years …


See No Fiduciary, Hear No Fiduciary: A Lawyer’S Knowledge Within Aiding And Abetting Fiduciary Breach Claims, Brinkley Rowe Dec 2016

See No Fiduciary, Hear No Fiduciary: A Lawyer’S Knowledge Within Aiding And Abetting Fiduciary Breach Claims, Brinkley Rowe

Fordham Law Review

Fiduciary liability for attorney conduct generally extends only to direct clients of legal services. Over the last few decades, however, the lawyer’s role has expanded. Following this trend, fiduciary liability also has expanded to allow third-party claims in certain limited circumstances. One example is the attorney aiding and abetting a client’s fiduciary breach claim. One of the key requirements for liability under this claim is the attorney’s knowledge of his client’s fiduciary relationship with the third party alleging the breach. Within those jurisdictions that have accepted the claim, there are two approaches to the knowledge element. The first is the …


A Legal And Ethical Puzzle: Defense Counsel As Quasi Witness, Elizabeth Slater Dec 2016

A Legal And Ethical Puzzle: Defense Counsel As Quasi Witness, Elizabeth Slater

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. criminal justice system is built on the concept of an adversarial trial. The defense and prosecution present competing narratives to a neutral audience that judges whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. In this context, defense counsel is expected to be a zealous advocate for the defendant, providing the most effective representation possible in light of the evidence presented by the government. However, there are occasions outside of trial where defense counsel’s traditional role changes and she is asked to disclose, not to the jury, but to the court, personal opinions and knowledge about …


The Practice Of Law As A Useful Art: Toward An Alternative Theory Of Professionalism, Norman W. Spaulding Mar 2016

The Practice Of Law As A Useful Art: Toward An Alternative Theory Of Professionalism, Norman W. Spaulding

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


"Professionalism" As Pathology: The Aba's Latest Pollicy Debate On Nonlawyer Ownership Of Law Practice Entities, Ted Schneyer Mar 2016

"Professionalism" As Pathology: The Aba's Latest Pollicy Debate On Nonlawyer Ownership Of Law Practice Entities, Ted Schneyer

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Framing Effects Of Professionalism: Is There A Lawyer Cast Of Mind? Lessons From Compliance Programs, Robert Eli Rosen, Christine E. Parker, Vibeke Lehmann Nielson Mar 2016

The Framing Effects Of Professionalism: Is There A Lawyer Cast Of Mind? Lessons From Compliance Programs, Robert Eli Rosen, Christine E. Parker, Vibeke Lehmann Nielson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Professionals working inside companies may bring with them frames of mind set by their professional experience and socialization. Lawyers, in particular, are said to “think like a lawyer”—to have a lawyer cast of mind. In seeking power within a company and in exercising the power that they obtain, professionals may draw on their professional background to frame, name, diagnose, and prescribe a remedy for the company’s problems. In making decisions about their compliance with the law, companies are constrained not only by their environment, but also by their agents’ understanding of whose (or what) interests the company should serve. In …


A History Of Professionalism: Julius Henry Cohen And The Professions As A Route To Citizenship, Rebecca Roiphe Mar 2016

A History Of Professionalism: Julius Henry Cohen And The Professions As A Route To Citizenship, Rebecca Roiphe

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Nothing New Under The Sun: How The Legal Profession's Twenty-First Century Challenges Resemble Those Of The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Russell G. Pearce, Pam Jenoff Mar 2016

Nothing New Under The Sun: How The Legal Profession's Twenty-First Century Challenges Resemble Those Of The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Russell G. Pearce, Pam Jenoff

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Implications Of Globalization For The Professional Status Of Lawyers In The United States And Elsewhere, Nancy J. Moore Mar 2016

Implications Of Globalization For The Professional Status Of Lawyers In The United States And Elsewhere, Nancy J. Moore

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


In Defense Of The Business Of Law, Judith A. Mcmorrow Mar 2016

In Defense Of The Business Of Law, Judith A. Mcmorrow

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Law: Business Or Profession?: The Continuing Relevance Of Julius Henry Cohen For The Practice Of Law In The Twenty-First Century, Samuel J. Levine Mar 2016

The Law: Business Or Profession?: The Continuing Relevance Of Julius Henry Cohen For The Practice Of Law In The Twenty-First Century, Samuel J. Levine

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


An Entrepreneurial Perspective On The Business Of Being In Our Profession, Steven H. Hobbs Mar 2016

An Entrepreneurial Perspective On The Business Of Being In Our Profession, Steven H. Hobbs

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Rehabilitating Lawyers: Perceptions Of Deviance And Its Cures In The Lawyer Reinstatement Process, Bruce Green, Jane Campbell Moriarty Mar 2016

Rehabilitating Lawyers: Perceptions Of Deviance And Its Cures In The Lawyer Reinstatement Process, Bruce Green, Jane Campbell Moriarty

Fordham Urban Law Journal

State courts’ approach to lawyer admissions and discipline has not changed fundamentally in the past century. Courts still place faith in the idea that “moral character” is a stable trait that reliably predicts whether an individual will be honest in any given situation. Although research in neuroscience, cognitive science, psychiatry, research psychology, and behavioral economics (collectively “cognitive and social science”) has influenced prevailing concepts of personality and trustworthiness, courts to date have not considered whether they might change or refine their approach to “moral character” in light of scientific insights. This Article examines whether courts should reevaluate how they decide …


Law As A Profession: Examining The Role Of Accountability, Susan Saab Fortney Jan 2012

Law As A Profession: Examining The Role Of Accountability, Susan Saab Fortney

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.