Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Lawyer, Form Thyself: Professional Identity Formation Strategies In Legal Education, Professional Responsibility, And Experiential Courses, Susan S. Daicoff

Susan Daicoff

Professional identity formation as a learning objective in law school may appear to be nontraditional and perhaps even innovative. While perhaps not a new concept, it is not typically an explicit goal of legal education. Empirical data finds that law school has demonstrable effects upon law students’ professional development; it also finds that certain nontraditional skills and competencies (or “soft skills”) make lawyers most effective. This article argues for explicit planning for and inclusion of professional identity development, including training in these nontraditional skills, in legal education. Professional identity encompasses one’s values, preferences, passions, intrinsic satisfactions, emotional intelligence, as well …

Popular Culture's Portrayal Of Attorney Decision-Making And It's Consequences- An Analysis Of An Attorney's Internal Ethical Conflict In Film, Tara M. Parente

Tara M. Parente

This paper explores how popular culture portrays attorney decision-making and its consequences. This paper compares and contrasts two films in order to exemplify how attorneys are portrayed throughout film and how this carries over into real life. Attorneys are faced with ethical dilemmas at all times, especially throughout career advancement and the decisions made tend to affect every aspect of an attorney's life.

How Lawyers' Intuitions Prolong Litigation, Andrew J. Wistrich, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Most lawsuits settle, but some settle later than they should. Too many compromises occur only after protracted discovery and expensive motion practice. Sometimes the delay precludes settlement altogether. Why does this happen? Several possibilities—such as the alleged greed of lawyers paid on an hourly basis—have been suggested, but they are insufficient to explain why so many cases do not settle until the eve of trial. We offer a novel account of the phenomenon of settling on the courthouse steps that is based upon empirical research concerning judgment and choice. Several cognitive illusions—the framing effect, the confirmation bias, nonconsequentialist reasoning, and …

Fostering A Respect For Our Students, Our Specialty, And The Legal Profession: Introducing Ethics And Professionalism Into The Legal Writing Curriculum, Melissa H. Weresh

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Making Civility Democratic, Amy R. Mashburn

Amy R. Mashburn

Historically, the concept of civility has been bound up with undemocratic notions of hierarchy and deference. Using insights from studies of civility by social psychologists, linguists, sociologists, historians, and political theorists, this article advances the theory that the legal profession’s self-consciously isolating professionalism ideology allows judges and disciplinary tribunals to apply deference-based notions of civility in their decisions to sanction lawyers. This theory would predict that the lawyers most likely to be sanctioned for incivility and rudeness are those from whom society expects the most deference. To test this theory, the author conducted an empirical study of every available case …

Admitting Foreign-Trained Lawyers In States Other Than New York: Why It Matters, Laurel S. Terry

Laurel S. Terry

Race, Identity, And Professional Responsibility: Why Legal Services Organizations Need African American Staff Attorneys, Shani M. King

Shani M. King

Given the fundamental importance of the attorney-client relationship in securing favorable outcomes for clients, legal services organizations that serve large populations of African Americans should employ African American staff attorneys because: (1) African American lawyers and clients share a group identity that makes it more likely that a black attorney will be able to gain a black client's trust; (2) black attorneys communicate more effectively with black clients; and (3) the perception of a judicial system that is unfair and racist is likely to encourage black clients to trust black lawyers more than white lawyers, who are more likely to …

Introduction To The Legal Tech Audit, Rachel S. Evans, Jason Tubinis

Presentations

A brief introduction and discussion of the legal tech audit, why it matters and three mini tech lessons for Word, Excel, and Adobe Acrobat Pro.

The Folly Of Expecting Evil: Reconsidering The Bar’S Character And Fitness Requirement, Leslie C. Levin

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Proposed Amendments To The Federal Judicial Misconduct Rules: Comments And Suggestions, Arthur D. Hellman

Testimony

In 2008, the Judicial Conference of the United States – the administrative policy-making body of the federal judiciary – approved a revised set of rules for handling complaints of misconduct or disability on the part of federal judges. Moving away from the decentralizing approach of the pre-2008 Illustrative Rules, the new rules were made binding on all of the federal judicial circuits.

On September 2, 2014, the Conference’s Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability (Conduct Committee) issued a set of draft amendments to the Rules. The announcement invited comments on the proposed amendments. This statement was submitted in response to …

Reconceptualizing The Judicial Activism Debate As Judicial Responsibility: A Tale Of Two Justice Kennedys, Eric J. Segall

Eric J. Segall

The academic and political debate over judicial activism has been based on the overriding but patently false assumption that the Supreme Court’s performance can be measured by examining the results that it reaches in constitutional cases. When scholars and politicians equate judicial activism with judicial invalidation of the works of the political branches or the reversal of precedent, however, these commentators don’t reveal anything different than would a pure descriptive account of the Court’s decision and rationale. Moreover, the judicial activism debate is unhelpful because the ambiguous sources of constitutional interpretation cannot privilege fundamental baselines or generate consensus over correct …

Judicial Humility And Affirmative Action, Eric J. Segall

Eric J. Segall

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, Clark D. Cunningham

Clark D. Cunningham

No abstract provided.

But What Is Their Story?, Clark D. Cunningham

Clark D. Cunningham

No abstract provided.

Lawyers Heed Call To Volunteer Pro Bono Service, Lisa Radtke Bliss

Lisa Radtke Bliss

No abstract provided.

Representing Clients With Limited English Proficiency, Lisa Radtke Bliss

Lisa Radtke Bliss

No abstract provided.

Putting Best Practices Into Practice: Implementing Change One Step At A Time, Lisa Radtke Bliss

Lisa Radtke Bliss

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Avoidance: Pluralism, Neutrality, And The Foundations Of Modern Legal Ethics, Melissa Mortazavi

Florida State University Law Review

This Article offers an answer to key questions in modern American legal ethics: when and why did the legal profession stop talking about professional conduct in moral terms? Mining the history of current rules governing lawyer conduct, this Article reveals that while the 1969 Model Code of Professional Responsibility sought to revolutionize legal ethics by creating a professional code that was more transparent, democratized, and less hierarchical than the preceding 1908 Canons of Legal Ethics, that effort also excised a moral understanding of lawyering in order to facilitate a particular understanding of pluralism.

The drafters of the 1969 Model Code …

Globalization And The Aba Commission On Ethics 20/20: Reflections On Missed Opportunities And The Road Not Taken, Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 was established in order to “perform a thorough review of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the U.S. system of lawyer regulation in the context of advances in technology and global legal practice developments.” The thesis of this article is that the Commission was much more successful with the “technology” aspect of its work than it was with the globalization aspect of its work. This article offers an explanation for these differing levels of success and identifies an alternative path the Commission might have taken that might have led to greater success …

Lost In The Weeds Of Pot Law: The Role Of Ethics In The Movement To Legalize Marijuana, Helia Garrido Hull

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Ethics Audits In Improving Management Systems And Practices: An Empirical Examination Of Management-Based Regulation Of Law Firms, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, legal malpractice experts have urged lawyers to implement risk management measures. To assist law firms in doing so, legal malpractice insurers have provided audit services and self-audit materials. Under the Australian regulatory regime, incorporated legal practices are required to complete a self-assessment process and to report on the firm's compliance with ten objectives of sound law practice. Using management-based principles, this Article discusses steps to take to encourage ethics audits "to merge good ethics and good business" in the U.S.

Summary Of Greenberg Traurig, Llp V. Frias Holding Company, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 67, Tom Stewart

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court adopted an exception to the common law litigation privilege for legal malpractice and professional negligence actions. A client can pursue malpractice and professional negligence actions against an attorney, and support those actions with communications made in the course of litigation.

Hiding The Elephant (How The Psychological Techniques Of Magicians Can Be Used To Manipulate Witnesses At Trial), Sydney A. Beckman

Sydney A. Beckman

In 1917 Harry Houdini performed a single, yet incredible, illusion; “[u]nder the bright spotlights of New York’s Theatre Hippodrome, he made a live elephant disappear.” In 1983 David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty Disappear in front of both a live and a national television audience. To be sure, neither the elephant nor Lady Liberty actually disappeared. But from the perspective of the audience they did, indeed, disappear. So which is correct? Did they, or didn’t they?

Trial Lawyers and Magicians share many of the same talents and skills. Misdirection, misinformation, selective-attention, ambiguity, verbal manipulation, body language interpretation, and physical …

Limits Of Disclosure, Steven M. Davidoff, Claire A. Hill

Steven Davidoff Solomon

One big focus of attention, criticism, and proposals for reform in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has been securities disclosure. Many commentators have emphasized the complexity of the securities being sold, arguing that no one could understand the disclosure. Some observers have noted that disclosures were sometimes false or incomplete. What follows these issues, to some commentators, is that, whatever other lessons we may learn from the crisis, we need to improve disclosure. How should it be improved? Commentators often lament the frailties of human understanding, notably including those of everyday retail investors—people who do not understand or …

Institutional Actors And Protecting Clients In A Post-Monopoly World, Melissa Mortazavi

Melissa Mortazavi

No abstract provided.

Bullshit And The Tribal Client, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

No abstract provided.

Shades Of Enron: The Legal Ethics Implications Of The General Motors Scandal, Michele Benedetto Neitz

Publications

Here we go again. "Where were the Lawyers?" is becoming a predicable refrain in response to any wide-ranging corporate scandal. General Motors is battling a rising deluge of lawsuits, investigations, and government fines in the wake of its February 2014 recall of millions of cars for a safety defect. The defect, a faulty ignition switch, is allegedly responsible for 13 fatalities and hundreds of injuries.

The sorrow of the tragic loss of life in this case is now joined by growing public anger about a cover-up at the company to avoid liability for the defect. GM's engineers and managers may …

Fraud And Abuse In Mesothelioma Litigation, Lester Brickman

Articles

No abstract provided.

Intermediaries Revisited: Is Efficient Certification Consistent With Profit Maximization?, Jonathan M. Barnett

Jonathan M Barnett

Private certification mechanisms are a key component of the regulatory infrastructure in the financial sector and other commercial settings. It is generally assumed that certification intermediaries have profit-based incentives to deliver accurate information to the certified market. But this view does not account for repeated failures in certification markets. Those failures can be explained by an inherent defect in the incentive structure of certification intermediaries: entry barriers both support and undermine the consistent supply of accurate information to the certified market. Certification markets tend to converge on a handful of providers protected by switching costs, product opacity and reputational noise. …

Nigger Manifesto: Ideological And Intellectual Discrimination Inside The Academy, Ellis Washington

Ellis Washington

Draft – 22 March 2014

Nigger Manifesto

Ideological Racism inside the American Academy

By Ellis Washington, J.D.

Abstract

I was born for War. For over 30 years I have worked indefatigably, I have labored assiduously to build a relevant resume; a unique curriculum vitae as an iconoclastic law scholar zealous for natural law, natural rights, and the original intent of the constitutional Framers—a Black conservative intellectual born in the ghettos of Detroit, abandoned by his father at 18 months, who came of age during the Detroit Race Riots of 1967… an American original. My task, to expressly transcend the ubiquitous …