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Full-Text Articles in Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility

What Is The Government's Role In Promoting Morals - Seriously, G. Marcus Cole Aug 2019

What Is The Government's Role In Promoting Morals - Seriously, G. Marcus Cole

G. Marcus Cole

In thinking about the government's proper role in promoting morals, it is helpful first to understand the nature of the disagreement. Part I of this Essay examines what is commonly meant by-as the great Lon Fuller described it-the "morality of law."' Following Professor Fuller's framework, this Essay distinguishes between two very different moralities of law: the "morality of duty" and the "morality of aspiration." The morality of duty consists of the basic proscriptions-against murder or theft, for example-required by any governmental authority. The morality of aspiration, however, is a different matter altogether. It comprises the rules associated with promoting virtue. …


The Legal Ethics Of The Two Kingdoms, Thomas L. Shaffer Aug 2016

The Legal Ethics Of The Two Kingdoms, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


On Living One Way In Town And Another Way At Home, Thomas L. Shaffer Aug 2016

On Living One Way In Town And Another Way At Home, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


Balzacian Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau Apr 2016

Balzacian Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Thomas Carbonneau

The study of law and literature is an area of growing interest to legal scholars in the United States. Honore de Balzac incorporated in his works a panoramic view of the social reality of nineteenth century France. In this context, the fidelity of Balzac's plots and characters to their external models has been well-documented in a number of fields, including sociology, commerce, and finance. In addition to this penchant for realism, however, Balzac laced his novels with an equally evident moral content. This commitment to accuracy and morality also influenced Balzac's novelistic treatment of the law and lawyers. Balzac's work …


Genocide And The Eroticization Of Death: Law, Violence, And Moral Purity, Tawia Baidoe Ansah Feb 2016

Genocide And The Eroticization Of Death: Law, Violence, And Moral Purity, Tawia Baidoe Ansah

Tawia B. Ansah

In this article, I ask: What is the relationship between law and morality in response to mass violence and suffering abroad? How does law shape and determine our moral response to mass death and suffering? We repose in the law itself a desire to define the moral and the ethical parameters of legal-political action. Thus, when faced with mass violence and suffering abroad, law functions as a proxy for morality. The legal prohibition under the Genocide Convention defines morality, or cabins the variety of moral responses into a single and universally applicable ethical-legal norm of response to genocide. The moral …


Less Suffering When You're Warned: A Response To Professor Lewis, Thomas L. Shaffer Nov 2013

Less Suffering When You're Warned: A Response To Professor Lewis, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


"Technical" Defenses: Ethics, Morals, And The Lawyer As Friend, Thomas L. Shaffer, Robert F. Cochran Jr. Nov 2013

"Technical" Defenses: Ethics, Morals, And The Lawyer As Friend, Thomas L. Shaffer, Robert F. Cochran Jr.

Thomas L. Shaffer

This essay examines the question of lawyer-client counseling on the issue of raising "technical" defenses, such as statutes of limitations. The authors challenge the prevailing notion of American lawyers that technical defenses raise no moral issue worthy of dialogue between lawyers and clients. Looking at the history of legal ethics and modern treatment in European law, they suggest that questions of limitations do raise moral issues. They go on to explore how those moral issues ought to be discussed and decided between lawyers and clients, using the framework of lawyers as godfathers, hired guns, gurus, and friends that they laid …


Henry Knox And The Moral Theology Of Law Firms, Thomas L. Shaffer Nov 2013

Henry Knox And The Moral Theology Of Law Firms, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


The Moral Theology Of Atticus Finch, Thomas L. Shaffer Nov 2013

The Moral Theology Of Atticus Finch, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


Moral Theology In Legal Ethics, Thomas L. Shaffer Nov 2013

Moral Theology In Legal Ethics, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


The Profession As A Moral Teacher, Thomas L. Shaffer Nov 2013

The Profession As A Moral Teacher, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


Forming An Agenda - Ethics And Legal Ethics, Robert E. Rodes Nov 2013

Forming An Agenda - Ethics And Legal Ethics, Robert E. Rodes

Robert Rodes

The law profession is unique in the scope of the mandate it gives those within it to intervene in other people's affairs. As a result of this unique power of intervention, lawyers encounter a number of unique problems. This paper elucidates upon, and applies, the moral standards and intuitions to be used in approaching these problems. It argues that we should form our consciences in dialogue with our clients and that once they are formed we must follow them and limit our representation accordingly. If lawyer and client cannot agree on an agenda with which both are comfortable, the lawyer …


Defending Against The Defenders Why I Can Be A Good Prosecutor And A Good Person, Sarah Montana Hart Jan 2011

Defending Against The Defenders Why I Can Be A Good Prosecutor And A Good Person, Sarah Montana Hart

Sarah Montana Hart

This article discusses the choice to become a prosecutor, specifically in light of the critics of the profession from writers like Paul Butler and Abbe Smith.


The Moral Responsibility Of The Corporate Lawyer, Judith A. Mcmorrow, Luke M. Scheuer Dec 2010

The Moral Responsibility Of The Corporate Lawyer, Judith A. Mcmorrow, Luke M. Scheuer

Luke M Scheuer

Lawyers traditionally claim that they are not morally accountable for the goals or activities of their clients that are within the bounds of the law. This essay explores this concept of non-accountability in the context of corporate transactional representation. We argue that corporate lawyers, whose practice is forward looking, undertaken on behalf of corporate clients who have legally impaired ability to engage in independent moral reasoning, and who function in a world of relatively minimal legal oversight (i.e. whose work is furthest from the model of the adversary system) cannot persuasively claim that they are not morally responsible for the …


The Moral Responsibility Of The Corporate Lawyer, Judith A. Mcmorrow, Luke M. Scheuer Dec 2009

The Moral Responsibility Of The Corporate Lawyer, Judith A. Mcmorrow, Luke M. Scheuer

Judith A. McMorrow

Lawyers traditionally claim that they are not morally accountable for the goals or activities of their clients that are within the bounds of the law. This essay explores this concept of non-accountability in the context of corporate transactional representation. We argue that corporate lawyers, whose practice is forward looking, undertaken on behalf of corporate clients who have legally impaired ability to engage in independent moral reasoning, and who function in a world of relatively minimal legal oversight (i.e. whose work is furthest from the model of the adversary system) cannot persuasively claim that they are not morally responsible for the …


What Oaths Meant To The Framers’ Generation: A Preliminary Sketch, Steve Sheppard Jan 2009

What Oaths Meant To The Framers’ Generation: A Preliminary Sketch, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

To the Framers’ generation, oaths of office were understood as commitments, both public and personal, which stemmed from a source of morality. Recent discussions have raised concerns over whether or not the closing phrase in many oaths of office, “so help me God,” demonstrates a possible preference by the Framers for religious leaders and commitments to God. Oaths are not only an acceptance of an office itself, but also the acceptance of the office’s obligations. While oaths state an office’s obligations generally, the obligations include all that could be reasonably inferred from the nature of the office, including the use …


Teach Justice, Steve Sheppard Jan 2008

Teach Justice, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

Law schools must improve their preparation of students to practice law ethically. Current law school curricula focus on preparing students to analyze legal issues but not ethical issues. A curriculum that encourages students to distance themselves from their ethical instincts is dangerous. A value-neutral approach to the law eventually leads to distortions of the law. Lawyers will be left without a proper way to sense the purpose behind the law, and they will instead focus solely on what the law requires or allows. While law schools could choose from limitless lists of moral values to include in their curricula, this …


A Hartman Hotz Symposium: Intelligence, Law, And Democracy, Steve Sheppard, Robin Butler, William Howard Taft Iv, Alberto Mora Jan 2008

A Hartman Hotz Symposium: Intelligence, Law, And Democracy, Steve Sheppard, Robin Butler, William Howard Taft Iv, Alberto Mora

Steve Sheppard

On April 25, 2007, the Hartman Hotz Trust of the University of Arkansas hosted a symposium to discuss the relationships between intelligence, law, and democracy. This article contains a transcript of the topics discussed at the symposium. Don Bobbit, Dean of the Fulbright College introduced the panel, and Steve Sheppard, Enfield Professor of Law, moderated the discussion. The panelists included three guests with experience in the intelligence field: Lord Robin Butler, former head of the British Civil Service; Alberto Mora, former General Counsel of the United States Navy; and William Howard Taft IV, former Acting Secretary of Defense and Legal …