Digital Commons Network^™

The Gift Of Milner Ball, Thomas L. Shaffer

Georgia Law Review

My friend and teacher Milner Ball speaks of the law as "systemic injustice." I find that a bit harsh and tend instead toward a way of looking at injustice that comes from the equally melancholy reflections of Robert E. Rodes, Jr., also my friend-my colleague, too-and also my teacher (in two senses, including the I-once-paid- tuition sense). Bob Rodes has noticed injustice as much as Milner has, but Bob, who tends to be an Erastian, would say it is not the law that is the source of injustice; it is not even the "system"; it is lawyers who are the …

From Lapdog To Watchdog: Sarbanes-Oxley Section 307 And A New Role For Corporate Lawyers, Peter C. Kostant

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Public Interest Service At The University Of Colorado School Of Law, Norman Aaronson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Regulating Professional Services Advertising: Current Constitutional Parameters And Issues Under The First Amendment Commercial Speech Doctrine, R. Michael Hoefges

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Corporate/Securities Attorney As A 'Moving Target' - Client Fraud Dilemmas, Marc I. Steinberg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Paper analyzes the enhanced responsibilities and liability concerns that corporate/securities attorneys have in the post-Enron era. State ethical rules, SEC pronouncements, and court decisions are addressed. The ramifications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with respect to its impact on legal counsel also are explored. The Paper also provides insight focusing on the business attorney's role as counselor and gatekeeper when faced with the prospect of client fraud.

Sensational Reports: The Ethical Duty Of Cause Lawyers To Be Competent In Public Advocacy, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

This article argues that cause lawyers - those lawyers whose primary focus is on social change rather than on for-profit client-based work - have an ethical responsibility to be competent in public advocacy. That responsibility stems from a cause lawyer's commitment to the principles embodied in the particular social movement in which the lawyer is acting. It is reinforced by the requirement of competency under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. To illustrate the contours of a competent public advocacy strategy, the article highlights two cause lawyering organizations, Legal Momentum and the Institute for Justice, and considers how each organization …

Calling For Stories, Nancy Levit, Allen Rostron

Faculty Works

Storytelling is a fundamental part of legal practice, teaching, and thought. Telling stories as a method of practicing law reaches back to the days of the classical Greek orators. Before legal education became an academic matter, the apprenticeship system for training lawyers consisted of mentoring and telling war stories. As the law and literature movement evolved, it sorted itself into three strands: law in literature, law as literature, and storytelling. The storytelling branch blossomed.

Over the last few decades, storytelling became a subject of enormous interest and controversy within the world of legal scholarship. Law review articles appeared in the …

Brother's Keeper: The Legal Ethics Of Representing Family Members The Sixth Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice And Professional Responsibility: Comment., Jason W. Whitney

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Comment seeks to provide practical guidance in evaluating ethical issues for Texas attorneys considering representing a relative. Attorneys must always look to the relevant rules of professional conduct, advisory opinions, and case law to evaluate whether or not representation adheres to ethical guidelines. The primary sources of guidance are the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (Texas Disciplinary Rules), advisory opinions from the Supreme Court of Texas Professional Ethics Committee (Texas Professional Ethics Committee), and Texas case law. Part II of this Comment discusses the history of professional responsibility, characteristics of representing family members, and common ethical problems arising …

Threading The Eye Of The Erisa Needle: Erisa Preemption And Alternative Legal Schemes To Fill The Regulatory Vacuum., Bernard D. Reams Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Popular consensus suggests that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) is a mess, and one of historic proportions. ERISA’s comprehensive reach to protect employer-provided benefits has in practice produced unintended, if not contradictory, results. Congress passed ERISA over thirty years ago to protect the rights of employees who benefit from employer pension and welfare benefit plans. It did so with a series of regulations that promote uniformity in litigation across the various states through “strong preemption language.” The goal of uniformity arguably benefits workers by imposing regular standards of conduct which lend predictability to the scope of litigation, or …

How Can Japanese Corporations Protect Confidential Information In U.S. Courts?, Masamichi Yamamoto

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

U.S. courts have seen a significant increase in the number of lawsuits involving both U.S. and Japanese corporations. In deciding these cases, U.S. courts may have to choose how to apply the attorney-client privilege to in-house lawyers retained by corporations in Japan, where the legal system and discovery rules are fundamentally different from those of the United States. U.S. courts would most likely analyze these situations under the Remy-Martin/Minolta test and recognize the attorney-client privilege only for managers of legal departments in Japanese corporations, not for other non-bengoshi (non-licensed) in-house lawyers. This will change in the near future, however, when …

The Curious Incident Of The Law Firm That Did Nothing In The Night-Time, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This essay argues that organizations (here, the Milbank, Tweed law firm) often ignore obviously bad behavior by their employees because of various psychological and sociological factors that prevent them from recognizing the behavior as bad in the first place.

E-Lawyering, The Aba's Current Choice Of Ethics Law Rule & The Dormant Commerce Clause Invalidates Model Rule 8.5(B)(2) When Applied To Attorney Internet Representations Of Clients, Michael W. Loudenslager

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The Internet is becoming the primary manner in which some attorneys serve clients. States have already taken differing views on whether it is acceptable for an attorney to engage in electronic representations of clients. Thus, determining what jurisdiction's law applies to such attorney conduct can be very important in deciding whether this activity constitutes the unauthorized practice of law and, if not, determining the exact duties of an attorney in such representations. This Article argues that the current version of Model Rule of Professional Responsibility 8.5(b), which governs choice of ethics law, can be interpreted to apply the legal ethics …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Article summarizes the major developments in legal ethics in Georgia between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006. The Article covers discipline of lawyers, ineffective assistance of counsel, attorney fees and liens, contempt, disqualification, malpractice (and other claims against lawyers), judicial ethics, unauthorized practice of law, and one case on attorney authority.

Overview Of Opr And Circular 230 Cases, Cono R. Namorato

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Living With The Bologna Process: Recommendations To The German Legal Education Community From A U.S. Perspective, Laurel S. Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

The Bologna Process is a dramatic development that is less than ten years old, but already it has significantly reshaped higher education in Germany and in Europe. This article is based on my research regarding the history and objectives of the Bologna Process and Bologna Process implementation in Germany. It contains my reflections about the Bologna Process and German legal education and my recommendations to the German legal education community.

2006 Changes To The Florida Rules Of Professional Conduct, Heather P. Baxter

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conscripting Attorneys To Battle Corporate Fraud Without Shields Or Armor? Reconsidering Retaliatory Discharge In Light Of Sarbanes-Oxley, Kim T. Vu

Michigan Law Review

This Note advocates that federal courts should allow attorneys to bring retaliatory discharge claims under SOX. Traditional rationales prohibiting the claims of retaliatory discharge by attorneys do not apply in the context of Sarbanes-Oxley. This Note contends that the Department of Labor and the federal courts should interpret the whistleblower provisions of § 806 as protecting attorneys who report under § 307. Assuring reporting attorneys that they have protection from retaliation will encourage them to whistleblow and thereby advance SOX's policy goal of ferreting out corporate fraud. Part I explores the legal landscape of retaliatory discharge suits by attorneys. This …

Carpe Diem: An Opportunity To Reclaim Lawyers' Independence, Louis A. Craco

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Explaining The Value Of Transactional Lawyering, Steven L. Schwarcz

ExpressO

This article attempts, empirically, to explain the value that lawyers add when acting as counsel to parties in business transactions. Contrary to existing scholarship, which is based mostly on theory, this article shows that transactional lawyers add value primarily by reducing regulatory costs, thereby challenging the reigning models of transactional lawyers as “transaction cost engineers” and “reputational intermediaries.” This new model not only helps inform contract theory but also reveals a profoundly different vision than existing models for the future of legal education and the profession.

Power As A Factor In Lawyers' Ethical Deliberations, Susan D. Carle

ExpressO

A fundamental disagreement among legal ethics scholars concerns the difference between client-centered and justice-centered approaches to lawyers’ ethical obligations. Advocates of client-centered approaches put lawyers’ duty to the client first. Justice-centered theorists critique the elevation of the client’s interests over other important concerns lawyers affect through the work they do on behalf of clients. Scholars who adopt justice-centered approaches argue that lawyers’ ethical obligations should be analyzed with a paramount focus on achieving justice.

Legal ethicists often view these two approaches as inconsistent with each other, but I argue in this Article that they are not necessarily so. Building on …

Unconscionable Contracting For Indigent Defense: Using Contract Theory To Invalidate Conflict Of Interest Clauses In Fixed-Fee Contracts, Jacqueline Mcmurtie

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Indigent defense remains in crisis and yet constitutional challenges to promote systemic change have met with mixed success. This Article explores the new strategy of applying contract theory and principles to challenge indigent defense contracts that violate the canons of professional responsibility. This Article begins by discussing the author's experience working on cases of indigent defendants whose convictions were overturned through the efforts of the Innocence Project Northwest. The erroneous convictions were facilitated by the indigent defense contract in place at the time of the convictions. Pursuant to this contract, the indigent defense contractor agreed to provide representation in all …

Introduction: Equal Access To Justice In Utah, Scott M. Matheson Jr.

Utah Law Review

This symposium issue of the Utah Law Review is historically significant for several reasons. First, Utah has a rich and interesting history of access to justice, some of which is recounted in the following articles. Second, the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law and more recently the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University have played important roles in that history. Third, and finally, this issue is the most extensive academic account of access to justice in Utah. We hope it is informative and helps point the way to improve access to justice in the future.

Equal Justice From A New Perspective: The Need For A First-Year Clinical Course On Public Interest Mediation, David Dominguez

Utah Law Review

It really is possible to deliver enough no-cost or low-cost legal problem solving services to provide equal justice. To get there, however, we need to experiment with new strategies and methods to achieve the goal, including the new skill of PIM. My hunch is that if first-year law students can prove to themselves in a clinical setting that public service lawyering can produce a multiplier effect for the greater public good, a new commitment to equal justice will emerge in the legal profession.

The Effects Of Alternative Dispute Resolution On Access To Justice In Utah, James R. Holbrook

Utah Law Review

Thousands of cases are resolved every year in Utah by private and court sponsored mediation and other ADR programs, and ADR utilization trends are moving up every year. Since 1990, over 3600 lawyers and non-lawyers have received mediator training in Utah. Clearly, ADR has a growing positive impact on access to justice in this state. However, it is just as clear that ADR by itself does not satisfy the huge and growing unmet needs of moderate-income, low-income, and poor people for dispute resolution services in this state.

Undermining Justice: The Legal Profession's Role In Restricting Access To Legal Representation, Robert R. Keuhn

Utah Law Review

The legal profession must cease to be an accomplice in efforts to provide "liberty and justice for some." The profession cannot paradoxically proclaim its commitment to access to legal representation and yet subvert that very goal by imposing restrictions on unpopular clients or types of legal services. If the principles of the legal profession mean anything, then all lawyers, courts, and bar organizations need to fight to ensure access to justice is truly equal and without restrictions.

Justice Will Prevail (With A Little Help From Her Friends): Pro Bono In Utah, Steven B. Scudder

Utah Law Review

The Utah State Bar wants more lawyers to work for free. The state's 7,000 lawyers are encouraged to perform fifty hours of free, or pro bono, work each year, but fewer than a third are reporting it when they annually renew licenses. "It's not discouraging, but it's not encouraging," said Brooke Bruno, the bar's pro bono coordinator. The state bar this fall will create a committee, the Utah Access to Justice Council, to study free legal work as well as other issues. "We want to better define the role of pro bono work," bar spokesman Toby Brown said. The American …

Access To Justice In Utah: Time For A Comprehensive Plan, Linda F. Smith

Utah Law Review

This Article argues that an ongoing state planning process should be established to ensure all residents have access to justice in all forums. Many states have established such planning processes and structures that allow courts, bar associations, publicly funded staff programs, other charitable entities, and the branches of government to engage in coordinated design, assessment, and enhancement of legal services for the public. Although much good work is underway in Utah, the lack of coordination and candid assessment mean that many needy Utahns are not served and many services are not available. It is time for an honest study of …

Law School, Law Students, Civic Engagement, And Community-Based Research As Resources For Improving Access To Justice In Utah, James H. Backman

Utah Law Review

Law School students and faculty alike enjoy the opportunity to contribute to new developments for the improvement of access to justice. Too often, our traditional research is published in a law journal and is often unknown to policymakers and community organizations that make an impact on our society and the way our legal system functions. Community-based research conducted by a student with the courts, the bar, legal service providers, and volunteer providers of services is presented in a context in which it can be used by these organizations dedicated to improvement of access to justice.

E-Lawyering, The Aba's Current Choice Of Ethics Law Rule & The Dormant Commerce Clause: Why The Dormant Commerce Clause Invalidates Model Rule 8.5(B)(2) When Applied To Internet Representations Of Clients , Michael W. Loudenslager

ExpressO

The Internet is becoming the primary manner in which some attorneys serve clients. States have already taken differing views on whether it is acceptable for an attorney to engage in electronic representations of clients. Thus, determining what jurisdiction’s law applies to such attorney conduct can be very important in deciding whether this activity constitutes the unauthorized practice of law, and, if not, the exact duties of an attorney in such representations.

This article argues that the current version of Model Rule of Professional Responsibility 8.5(b), which governs choice of ethics law, can be interpreted to apply the legal ethics rules …

Institutional And Individual Justification In Legal Ethics: The Problem Of Client Selection, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Monroe Freedman is well known as a proponent of the "standard conception" of legal ethics - that is, that a lawyer cannot be criticized in moral terms for actions taken in a representative capacity. Surprisingly, however, Freedman has argued that client selection is a decision for which a lawyer may be required to provide a justification in ordinary moral terms. This apparent inconsistency reveals a conceptual distinction in normative ethical theory, which is often blurred, between justifying a practice (in this case, the legal system or some specialized practice such as criminal defense) and justifying an action falling within the …