Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Capital Defense Lawyers: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Sean D. O'Brien

Michigan Law Review

Professor Welsh S. White's book Litigating in the Shadow of Death: Defense Attorneys in Capital Cases collects the compelling stories of "a new band of dedicated lawyers" that has "vigorously represented capital defendants, seeking to prevent their executions" (p.3). Sadly, Professor White passed away on New Year's Eve, 2005, days before the release of his final work. To the well-deserved accolades of Professor White that were recently published in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, I can only add a poignant comment in a student blog that captures his excellence as a scholar and educator: "I wanted to …

The Virtuous Prosecutor In Quest Of An Ethical Standard: Guidance From The Aba, H. Richard Uviller

Michigan Law Review

Among his other endeavors, the public prosecutor strives to maintain an upright stance in the stained halls of criminal justice. He correctly senses that the people demand more of him than diligent, workmanlike performance of his public chores. Virtue is the cherished ingredient in his role: the honorable exercise of the considerable discretionary power with which our legal system has endowed his office. Daily, the ethical fibre of the prosecutor is tested -and through him, in large measure, the rectitude of the system of justice.

Here, I shall discuss only three of the many ethical problems along the prosecutor's way: …

Legal Ethics, Clarence Archibald Lightner

Michigan Law Review

My purpose here is a discussion of (I) the meaning of "ethics" in a professional sense, and (2) the relation to the subject of the "Canons of Ethics" of the American Bar Association. I have before me a valuable booklet1 in which the author opposes, in one chapter, "Ethical Instruction in the Schools" and, in the other chapter, he favors "Moral Instruction in the Schools." In his use of words, "ethical" means theory, a science, while "moral" means habits, an art. He persuasively opposes, therefore, the "ethical" while contending for the "moral."