Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Understanding Kaye Scholer: The Autonomous Citizen, The Managed Subject And The Role Of The Lawyer, Nancy Amoury Combs

Nancy Combs

The Office of Thrift Supervision's (OTS) unprecedented enforcement action against Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler (Kaye Scholer) prompted howls of protest from the legal community. OTS, it was claimed, was using its excessive power to redefine the role of the lawyer. This Comment confirms that OTS sought to impose duties on Kaye Scholer that conflict with professional ethics rules. The Comment then goes on to suggest that the conflict over professional responsibility in the Kaye Scholer case reflects, more fundamentally, a conflict over the role of the citizen, and the citizen's relationship with the state. Our adversarial system of …

Prosecutorial Shaming: Naming Attorneys To Reduce Prosecutorial Misconduct, Adam M. Gershowitz

Adam M. Gershowitz

This Article explores the unfortunately large number of instances in which appellate courts reverse convictions for serious prosecutorial misconduct but do not identify the names of the prosecutors who committed that misconduct. Because judges are reluctant to publicly shame prosecutors whose cases are reversed, this Article advocates that a neutral set of third parties undertake the responsibility of publicly identifying prosecutors who have committed serious misconduct. The naming of prosecutors will shame bad actors, provide a valuable pedagogical lesson for junior prosecutors, and signal to trial judges that certain prosecutors must be monitored more closely to avoid future misconduct.

Imputed Liability For Supervising Prosecutors: Applying The Military Doctrine Of Command Responsibility To Reduce Prosecutorial Misconduct, Geoffrey S. Corn, Adam M. Gershowitz

Adam M. Gershowitz

No abstract provided.

Office Hours: Just The Facts With Allison Orr Larsen, Jeffrey Bellin, Michaela Lieberman, Allison Orr Larsen

Allison Orr Larsen

March 27, 2018: Today’s guest is William & Mary Law School professor Allison Orr Larsen. Professor Larsen talks about her research into the use of “alternative facts” in Supreme Court opinions (and beyond), the constitutional obstacles to investigating a sitting President, and her surprising career path.

Designing And Improving A System Of Proactive Management-Based Regulation To Help Lawyers And Protect The Public, Susan Saab Fortney

Susan S. Fortney

Increasingly, lawyers and decision-makers are recognizing the limitations and consequences of current approaches to attorney regulation. Inspired by developments in other countries, regulators in the United States and Canada have started the process of exploring innovative approaches, including proactive management-based regulation. The term, proactive-management regulation (PMBR), was first used by Professor Ted Schneyer to refer to a regulatory approach designed to promote ethical law practice by assisting lawyers with practice management.

The seed for PMBR was first planted in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). It grew out of the legislation that allowed limited liability and non-lawyer ownership …

Integrating "Alternative" Dispute Resolution Into Bankruptcy: As Simple (And Pure) As Motherhood And Apple Pie?, Nancy A. Welsh

Nancy Welsh

Today, there can be little doubt that “alternative” dispute resolution is anything but alternative. Nonetheless, many judges, lawyers (and law students) do not truly understand the dispute resolution processes that are available and how they should be used. In the shadow of the current economic crisis, this lack of knowledge is likely to have negative consequences, particularly in those areas of practice such as bankruptcy and foreclosure in which clients, lawyers, regulators, and courts work under pressure, often with inadequate time and financial resources to permit careful analysis of procedural options. Potential negative effects can include: (1) impairment of a …

Addressing Access To Justice Through New Legal Service Providers: Opportunities And Challenges, Alice Woolley, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Trevor C. W. Farrow

Most informed observers of the Canadian and American legal systems accept the existence of a significant crisis in access to justice. One possible solution is to permit paralegals, notaries or other licensed individuals with training more limited than that enjoyed by a licensed attorney to practice in certain areas of law. This paper supports these developments, arguing for a regulated and incremental introduction of new legal service providers into the legal services market. It considers the appropriate training and scope of practice for new legal service providers, and some of the associated opportunities and challenges.

The Poor Image Of The Profession And The Ethical Pressures On The Modern Lawyer, Rodney A. Smolla

Rod Smolla

No abstract provided.

Virtuous Billing, Nancy B. Rapoport, Randy D. Gordon

Nancy B. Rapoport

Aristotle tells us, in his Nicomachean Ethics, that we become ethical by building good habits and we become unethical by building bad habits: “excellence of character results from habit, whence it has acquired its name (êthikê) by a slight modification of the word ethos (habit).” Excellence of character comes from following the right habits. Thinking of ethics as habit-forming may sound unusual to the modern mind, but not to Aristotle or the medieval thinkers who grew up in his long shadow. “Habit” in Greek is “ethos,” from which we get our modern word, “ethical.” In Latin, habits are moralis, which …

The Perilous Psychology Of Public Defending, Scott Howe

Scott W. Howe

This article examining the ethical challenges confronting most public defender attorneys is framed as a fictional talk presented by P.D. Atty, a former public defender attorney, at a small conference of new public defender attorneys. The presentation asserts that public defenders typically face psychological obstacles to providing zealous advocacy for all of their clients and that an essential aspect of the remedy starts with recognition of these psychological barriers. The author contends that these challenges relate to a typically unacknowledged aversion to representing certain kinds of criminal defendants. Contrary to common supposition, the strongest aversion is not to representation of …

The Social Media Frontier: Exploring A New Mandate For Competence In The Practice Of Law, Jan Jacobowitz, Danielle Singer

Jan L Jacobowitz

Attorney Mark O’Mara’s use of social media as part of the defense strategy in the representation of George Zimmerman, who was prosecuted for the death of Trayvon Martin, highlighted the use of social media in the practice of law, and because of the tremendous media coverage of the trial, facilitated a robust conversation on whether the legal profession’s use of social media is the “new normal.” In fact, lawyers’ increasing use of social media is evidenced by a growing body of case law, ethics opinions, and journal articles discussing the propriety of using social media in areas such as investigation, …

Lawyers Beware: You Are What You Post! The Case For Integrating Cultural Competence, Legal Ethics And Social Media, Jan Jacobowitz

Jan L Jacobowitz

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. --Epictetus

Words used carelessly, as if they… do… not matter in any serious way, often allow… otherwise well-guarded truths to seep through. --Douglas Adams

Happy Mother’s Day to all the crack hoes out there. It's never too late to tie your tubes, clean up your life and make difference to someone out there that deserves a better mother. --Assistant State Attorney in Orange County, Florida

No thought left unspoken…social media networking -- ubiquitous in our society -- provides the opportunity for individuals to share their moment-to-moment thoughts and actions. …

Mindful Ethics—A Pedagogical And Practical Approach To Teaching Legal Ethics, Developing Professional Identity, And Encouraging Civility, Jan Jacobowitz, Scott Rogers

Jan L Jacobowitz

Aristotle spoke of virtue and ethics as a combination of practical wisdom and habituation—an individual must learn from the application of critical reasoning skills to experience. Perhaps one of the earliest proclamations of the value of experiential learning, the Aristotelian view, reappears throughout history and is captured once again by the Carnegie Foundation’s Report on Legal Education, which includes a call for instruction that provides practical skills and ethical grounding to complement the teaching of legal analysis. The Carnegie Report continues to play a role in the ongoing discussion of the need to reform legal education; a debate that is …

On Teaching Legal Ethics With Stories About Clients, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.

Teaching Legal Ethics In A Program Of Comprehensive Skills Development, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Professional Preparedness: A Comparative Study Of Law Graduates' Perceived Readiness For Professional Ethics Issues, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Practice Setting As An Organizing Theme For A Law And Ethics Of Lawyering Curriculum, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Legal Education, Experiential Education, And Professional Responsibility, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Broad Prohibition, Thin Rationale: The Acquisition Of An Interest And Financial Assistance In Litigation Rules, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Why Formalism?, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Ethical Challenges To Legal Education And Conduct, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Experience And Legal Ethics Teaching, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

Lawyer Creeds And Moral Seismography, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Ethics Teaching In Law Schools: Replacing Lost Benefits Of The Apprentice System In The Academic Atmosphere, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.

The Federal Government Lawyer's Duty To Breach Confidentiality, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

The lawyer's duty of confidentiality springs from the lawyer-client relationship and its parameters are determined by the nature of that relationship. The federal government lawyer's client is like no other. The uniqueness of representing the United States calls for a unique approach to the duty of confidentiality. Unlike the private individual client, the government as a client does not speak with a single, unmistakable voice. Unlike the private entity client, the federal government has a paramount interest in the public good, including the public's right to know about government (the entity's conduct), especially its misconduct. The result is a client …

Speaking Science To Law, Deborah Hussey Freeland

Deborah M. Hussey Freeland

involving a strong scientific consensus, the powerful qualities of scientific knowledge are easily lost in translation. Moreover, even prominent scientists who are committed to providing accurate information to legal fact-finders may suffer reputational harm simply for participating in an adversarial process.

This article analyzes the connection between law and science through the expert witness from the perspectives of epistemology and cross-cultural communication, focusing on the distinct ways in which scientists and lawyers know, value and express their knowledge. When a lawyer meets with a scientific expert witness, more confusion attends their interaction than either likely realizes. Linguistic translation is necessary--but …

Fidelity Diluted: Client Confidentiality Gives Way To The First Amendment & Social Media In Virginia State Bar, Ex Rel. Third District Committee V. Horace Frazier Hunter, Jan Jacobowitz, Kelly Jesson

Jan L Jacobowitz

Fidelity and confidentiality are hallmarks of the attorney-client relationship. However, as social media use permeates the legal profession, new challenges have arisen to the traditional interpretation of client confidentiality. The Virginia Supreme Court’s recent holding, which concludes that to deny attorney Horace Hunter the ability to blog about his clients’ cases without client consent, after the case concludes and based upon what is found in the public record, is to deny Hunter his First Amendment right of free speech has spurned controversy. The Hunter opinion arguably undermines the long standing legal ethics rule of confidentiality and strikes at the heart …

The Legal Perils Of Social Media: Avoiding Landmines In Cyberspace, Jan L. Jacobowitz Ms.

Jan L Jacobowitz

No abstract provided.

Winning Through Integrity And Professionalism, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

What Is A Lawyer? A Reconstruction Of The Lawyer As An Officer Of The Court, Deborah Hussey Freeland

Deborah M. Hussey Freeland

This paper engages with the central question in legal ethics concerning the lawyer's role, analyzing this fundamental question in terms of professional identity. Literature in this debate frames the lawyer either as a professional who exists entirely to serve her client (the "standard conception"), or as a professional whose primary duties are to the legal system. I reposit and examine the lawyer's professional identity as an officer of the court--an identity marginalized by those who favor the standard conception--noting that the phrase was coined to draw attention to a supplanting threat to legal professionalism. Providing a uniquely detailed examination of …