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Full-Text Articles in Legal Profession

Solving Your Ethical Conundrums: Researching The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Joyce Manna Janto Dec 2013

Solving Your Ethical Conundrums: Researching The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

Ms. Janto provides a practical guide to researching issues of attorney professional responsibilities using both print and online resources, emphasizing Virginia rules and decisions.


Should A Christian Lawyer Serve The Guilty?, Thomas L. Shaffer Nov 2013

Should A Christian Lawyer Serve The Guilty?, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.


Something Bad In Your Briefs, Richard H. Underwood Oct 2013

Something Bad In Your Briefs, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In a profession heavily driven by writing, plagiarism is an ethical issue that plagues the legal community. The legal profession generally views plagiarism as unethical, but often sends mixed messages by condemning it in some settings, but not others. In this short Commentary, Professor Underwood discusses the ethical implications of plagiarism in legal writing.


Systematically Thinking About Law Firm Ethics: Conference On The Ethical Infrastructure And Culture Of Law Firms, Susan Saab Fortney Oct 2013

Systematically Thinking About Law Firm Ethics: Conference On The Ethical Infrastructure And Culture Of Law Firms, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

To advance the discourse related to law firm ethics and the impact of formal controls and informal influences on lawyer conduct, we convened on April 5, 2013 the Conference on the Ethical Infrastructure and Culture of Law Firms ("Conference" or "Symposium"). The Conference, conducted under the auspices of the Hofstra Law Review and the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University's Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics, was funded in part by the Abraham J. Gross '78 Conference and Lecture Fund at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Experts who have studied issues …


Foreword To The Conference: 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 Aug 2013

Foreword To The Conference: 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

Samuel J. Levine

No abstract provided.


Making Sure We Are True To Our Founders: The Association Of The Bar Of The City Of New York, 1970-95, Jeffrey Morris Jun 2013

Making Sure We Are True To Our Founders: The Association Of The Bar Of The City Of New York, 1970-95, Jeffrey Morris

Jeffrey B. Morris

No abstract provided.


Liberty, Justice, And Legal Automata, Marc Lauritsen Jun 2013

Liberty, Justice, And Legal Automata, Marc Lauritsen

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Legal work is increasingly doable by artificial systems built out of software. Providers in both commercial and non-profit contexts are making such systems available for direct use by consumers. Some lawyers and policy makers understandably worry that these developments pose dangers for users and may inappropriately intrude on the prerogatives of the legal profession. This article reviews the extent to which software-based legal assistance systems can or should be suppressed as the unauthorized practice of law in light of constitutional rights of free expression and the social good of access to justice.


Corporate Governance As A School Of Social Reform, Ciarán O’Kelly Mar 2013

Corporate Governance As A School Of Social Reform, Ciarán O’Kelly

Seattle University Law Review

In this paper, I present a vision of the corporation as a moral person. I point to “the separation of ownership and control” as a moment when the corporation broke away from the moral lives of ownermanagers. I then draw out the manner in which we can speak of the company as a moral person. Finally, through a discussion of social reporting in two British banks, I point to a shift in how this moral personhood is articulated, with the rise of corporate governance—or doing business well—as its own foundation of corporate responsibility. I propose a view of corporate responsibility …


The Common Link In Failures And Scandals At The World’S Leading Banks, Justin O’Brien, Olivia Dixon Mar 2013

The Common Link In Failures And Scandals At The World’S Leading Banks, Justin O’Brien, Olivia Dixon

Seattle University Law Review

This Article argues that both the root cause of the crisis and the route to restoring trust and confidence is to be found in ascertaining how to regulate culture across mandates, processes, and use of discretion. Part II identifies the internal and external failings of four of the most recent global banking scandals within the CEDAR matrix. Part III discusses the regulatory challenges faced when compliance serves no practical function and the consequent material risk to market integrity. This Article concludes by suggesting that it is unsustainable for regulation to be decided, implemented, and monitored at a national level. Global …


Limits Of Disclosure, Steven M. Davidoff, Claire A. Hill Mar 2013

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

Seattle University Law Review

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 …


How To Make Rules For Lawyers: The Professional Responsibility Of The Legal Profession, Stephen Gillers Feb 2013

How To Make Rules For Lawyers: The Professional Responsibility Of The Legal Profession, Stephen Gillers

Pepperdine Law Review

When considering the professional responsibilities of American lawyers, two questions often arise: (1) whether a particular rule strikes the right balance among the multiple interests it purports to reconcile and (2) whether in a particular circumstance a lawyer's or law firm's behavior complied with the governing rules. This article explores a third question. What is the responsibility of the profession itself when, through its various institutions and especially bar associations, it asks courts, lawmakers, or agencies to adopt particular rules governing the conduct of lawyers? Rather than exploring the discussing the conduct of individual lawyers or the correctness of any …


In-House Live-Client Clinical Programs: Some Ethical Issues, James E. Moliterno Jan 2013

In-House Live-Client Clinical Programs: Some Ethical Issues, James E. Moliterno

James E. Moliterno

No abstract provided.


Student, Esquire?: The Practice Of Law In The Collaborative Classroom, Nantiya Ruan Jan 2013

Student, Esquire?: The Practice Of Law In The Collaborative Classroom, Nantiya Ruan

Nantiya Ruan

Law faculty and non-profit lawyers are working together in a variety of partnerships to offer students exposure to “real life” clients in the first year of law school, as well as in advanced courses in substantive areas. Teachers engaged in client-centered advocacy through experiential frameworks have broken out of their isolated silos in the law school (e.g., legal writing, clinical, externship, and doctrinal) and begun to work together. To help students develop a sense of professional identity, cultivate professional values, and tap into key intrinsic motivations for lawyering, such as serving the public good, collaborative classrooms have an important role …


The Transformative Potential Of Attorney Bilingualism, Jayesh Rathod Jan 2013

The Transformative Potential Of Attorney Bilingualism, Jayesh Rathod

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In contemporary U.S. law practice, attorney bilingualism is increasingly valued, primarily because it allows lawyers to work more efficiently and to pursue a broader range of professional opportunities. This purely functionalist conceptualization of attorney bilingualism, however, ignores the surprising ways in which multilingualism can enhance a lawyer’s professional work and can strengthen and reshape relationships among actors in the U.S. legal milieu. Drawing upon research from psychology, linguistics, and other disciplines, this Article advances a theory of the transformative potential of attorney bilingualism. Looking first to the development of lawyers themselves, the Article posits that attorneys who operate bilingually may, …


Behavioral Legal Ethics, Jean R. Sternlight, Jennifer K. Robbennolt Jan 2013

Behavioral Legal Ethics, Jean R. Sternlight, Jennifer K. Robbennolt

Scholarly Works

Complaints about lawyers’ ethics are commonplace. While it is surely the case that some attorneys deliberately choose to engage in misconduct, psychological research suggests a more complex story. It is not only “bad apples” who are unethical. Instead, ethical lapses can occur more easily and less intentionally than we might imagine. In this paper, we examine the ethical “blind spots,” slippery slopes, and “ethical fading” that may lead good people to behave badly. We then explore specific aspects of legal practice that can present particularly difficult challenges for lawyers given the nature of behavioral ethics - complex and ambiguous ethical …


Reflections On Us Policies Regarding Effective Regulation And Discipline And Foreign Lawyer Mobility: Has The Time Come To Talk About The Elephant In The Room, Laurel S. Terry Jan 2013

Reflections On Us Policies Regarding Effective Regulation And Discipline And Foreign Lawyer Mobility: Has The Time Come To Talk About The Elephant In The Room, Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

The ABA has adopted four model policies that address, in one way or another, the issue of foreign lawyer mobility. These policies are the ABA Model Foreign Legal Consultant Rule, which is commonly known as the FLC rule, the ABA Model Rule for Temporary Practice by Foreign Lawyers, which is commonly known as the FIFO rule, ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5, which permits foreign lawyers to serve as in-house counsel, and the ABA Model Rule on Pro Hac Vice Admission. All four of the ABA’s foreign lawyer mobility recommendations include a requirement that the mobile foreign lawyer is …


Transnational Legal Practice (United States), Laurel S. Terry Jan 2013

Transnational Legal Practice (United States), Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

This article covers three years of Transnational Legal Practice developments in the U.S. (It is the companion article to 47 Int’l Lawyer 485 (2013) which discusses transnational legal practice developments outside of the U.S.) This article begins by briefly reviewing the uncertainty about the future of U.S. legal education and legal services. The next section discusses the proposals and changes that emanated from the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20, which was tasked with evaluating what changes were needed in light of globalization and technology developments. The third section of this article discusses the Uniform Bar Exam and its implications for …


Foreword To The Conference: 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 Jan 2013

Foreword To The Conference: 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

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.


Transnational Legal Practice (International), Laurel S. Terry Jan 2013

Transnational Legal Practice (International), Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

This article covers three years of Transnational Legal Practice developments outside of the US. (It is the companion piece to 47 Int'l Law. 499 (2013) which discusses US developments.) This article discusses the approval of an Alternative Business Structure licensing system by the UK Solicitors Regulation Authority and its subsequent issuance of ABS licenses. The second section reviews the emergence of the “Troika” as a new regulatory influence in Europe, citing as an example the joint ABA-CCBE letter to the IMF. (The Troika refers to the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission.) The third section …