Digital Commons Network^™

Ethical Discretion In Lawyering, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, Professor Simon argues that conventional approaches to legal ethics are too categorical. Rather than operating within a system of formalized ethical rules, he argues, lawyers should exercise judgment and discretion in deciding what clients to represent and how to represent them. In exercising this discretion, lawyers should seek to "do justice." They should consider the merits of the client's claims and goals relative to those of opposing parties and other potential clients. They should also consider the substantive merits of the client's claims and the reliability of the standard legal procedures for resolving the problem at hand. …

Essay Review Of Modern Legal Ethics, Ted Schneyer

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Genesis And Goals Of The Ali Corporate Governance Project, Roswell B. Perkins

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Proposed Rules Of Professional Conduct: Critical Concerns For Military Lawyers, Donald L. Burnett Jr.

Articles

No abstract provided.

Lawyers And Professionalism: A Commentary On The Report Of The American Bar Association Commission On Professionalism, Ronald D. Rotunda

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Illusion And Reality In Regulating Lawyer Performance: Rethinking Rule 11, Lawrence M. Grosberg

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Professional Responsibility, Michael L. Rigsby

University of Richmond Law Review

All lawyers licensed in Virginia must adhere to the Disciplinary Rules (DRs) and principles codified in the Virginia Code of Professional Responsibility. The ethical precepts contained therein constitute the bedrock upon which the notion of professionalism is based. It distinguishes Virginia lawyers as members of a learned profession. Unfortunately, all lawyers do not accept the ethical responsibilities which come with the privilege of licensure. For those instances in which a lawyer strays from his ethical tethering, the Supreme Court of Virginia has devised a procedure for investigating complaints of lawyer misconduct and, where appropriate, imposing discipline.

Contractual Limitations On Attorney Malpractice Liability: An Economic Approach, Leonard E. Gross

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Changing Role Of The Attorney With Respect To The Corporation, Wilton S. Sogg, Michael L. Solomon

Cleveland State Law Review

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once stated that "the propriety of a lawyer serving as a member of the Board of Directors of his corporate client remains, even today, a vexing problem of professional responsibility.” Historically, accountants have been assumed, as well as required, to be independent of any enterprise in which they express an opinion regarding the enterprise's financial statements. Independence had been interpreted to mean that accountants may not serve on the board of directors or invest in any enterprise which they, or their firm, audit, or for whom either expresses an opinion on the enterprise's financial statements. …

Legal Ethics And The Good Client, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Modern ethics talks in terms of clients corrupting lawyers, and how lawyers must protect themselves from their client’s bad morals. This Article critiques that understanding and proposes that legal ethics is the study of what is good for a client, not what is good for the lawyer. Properly studied, it is thinking about the morals of someone else—the client. It is not thinking through the client’s conscience, but thinking through the lawyer’s conscience that seeks rectitude, freedom, and goodness for the client.

Grand Jury Subpoenas To Defense Attorneys Representing Targets: An Ethical-Legal Tug Of War, Paul Marshall Yoder

Campbell Law Review

This Comment will first explore the problems associated with grand jury subpoenas to defense attorneys, and then move on to examine the role of the grand jury in the criminal justice system. The Comment will then survey previous approaches to the problem and their deficiencies, following which it will focus on the new ethical rule and its ramifications for the grand jury process. Finally, it will will suggest alternatives to the current approaches.

Common Issues Of Professional Responsibility, Thomas Ehrlich

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Reconstruction Of Legal Ethics As Ethics, James R. Elkins

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Dissent And Friendship--A Response To Professor Shaffer, Carl M. Selinger

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of The Law Of Professional Responsibility: The Rules Of Professional Conduct Annotated And Analyzed, Robert H. Aronson

Washington Law Review

This Article contains two parts with different purposes. The first part consists of an introduction and critique of the recently adopted Washington Rules of Professional Conduct. Some of the rules that differ from the Model Rules, that violate Constitutional requirements, or that inappropriately resolve competing policies are evaluated. Two of the most important areas—confidentiality and advertising—are treated separately and in-depth in student Survey Comments. The second part of this Article consists of an overview of the law of professional responsibility in Washington. It follows the organization and rule sequence of the RPC, with annotations, applications, and interpretations from the ABA …

Lawyer Advertising, Tim J. Filer

Washington Law Review

This Survey Comment will give a brief synthesis of the constitutional law underlying the area of attorney advertising, and take a more detailed look at the Zauderer decision. While an overview of the Washington Rules has been given elsewhere in this issue, the primary focus of this comment will be on how the rules meet, and fall short of, the constitutional standards clarified in Zauderer. In particular, the prohibition of direct mail contact with specific persons known to need legal services in a specific matter appears to be unconstitutional. Additionally, the Washington rule limiting the use of trade names may …

Can A Good Lawyer Be A Bad Person, Stephen Gillers

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Good Lawyer: Lawyers' Roles and Lawyers' Ethics edited by David Luban and The Adversary System: A Description and Defense by Stephan Landsman

New Rules Of Professional Conduct: Critical Concerns For Idaho Lawyers, Donald L. Burnett Jr.

Articles

No abstract provided.

Zauderer V. Office Of Disciplinary Counsel: Refining The Regulation Of Attorney Advertising, Brent P. Copenhaver

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Courts At The Crossroads, Roger J. Miner '56

Bar Associations

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of The Law Of Professional Responsibility: The Rules Of Professional Conduct Annotated And Analyzed, Robert H. Aronson

Articles

This Article contains two parts with different purposes. The first part consists of an introduction and critique of the recently adopted Washington Rules of Professional Conduct. Some of the rules that differ from the Model Rules, that violate Constitutional requirements, or that inappropriately resolve competing policies are evaluated. Two of the most important areas—confidentiality and advertising—are treated separately and in-depth in student Survey Comments. The second part of this Article consists of an overview of the law of professional responsibility in Washington. It follows the organization and rule sequence of the RPC, with annotations, applications, and interpretations from the ABA …

The First Amendment, Commercial Speech, And The Advertising Lawyer, Justice Vernon R. Pearson, Michael O'Neill

Seattle University Law Review

The Supreme Court, in a few cases scattered over several decades, has implied the existence of a public right to a free flow of information as one facet of the freedom of speech; yet the Court has refrained from specifically basing a decision on any such right. But with the recent line of commercial speech decisions, the concept-of a public right to a free flow of information has become firmly established and merits detailed examination. That right, and the rationale of the Court in its commercial speech cases, may have far ranging implications. This Article explores these implications in three …

Why Kentucky Should Adopt The Aba's Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Eugene R. Gaetke

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In 1983, after six years of drafting and lively debate, the American Bar Association adopted the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as its most recent statement of the ethical norms of the legal profession. Shortly thereafter the ABA forwarded the rules to the states for consideration and possible adoption as binding ethical principles. As of this writing, a number of states have adopted the Model Rules, in full or in substantial form, and several more have proposals for such adoption pending before their supreme courts

The Kentucky Supreme Court presently awaits the state bar association's recommendation regarding the Model Rules' …

Ethics And The Settlement Of Civil Rights Cases: Can Attorneys Keep Their Virtue And Their Fees?, Lloyd B. Snyder

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Award Act of 1976 authorizes an award of fees to the prevailing party in a civil rights action. The United State Supreme Court, in Evans v. Jeff D., has interpreted the Fees Act to authorize the parties in a civil rights action to negotiate settlement of fees and merits jointly. The Court did not determine whether joint fees-merits negotiation is ethical. The author of this article contends that joint negotiation is ethical. He further contends that it is ethical for plaintiff's attorney to reject an offer of settlement if the offer is coupled with a …

Comments: Forfeiture Of Attorneys' Fees Under The Comprehensive Forfeiture Act Of 1984: Not What Congress Ordered, Daniel A. Guy Jr.

University of Baltimore Law Review

In 1984 Congress amended the criminal forfeiture provisions of the RICO and CCE statutes. The Department of Justice has interpreted the amended laws to allow for the restraint and forfeiture of assets transferred by a defendant to defense counsel as compensation for legitimate legal services. This comment explores the legislative history of the amendments, as well as the constitutional and ethical concerns which arise under the Department's interpretation, to conclude that Congress did not intend bona fide attorneys' fees to be subject to the forfeiture provisions of the RICO and CCE statutes.

For A Few Dollars More: Client’S Right To Discharge His Attorney Under A Contingent Fee Contract, Irving Cohen

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Kentucky Should Adopt The Aba's Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Eugene R. Gaetke

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

To Whom Does The Government Lawyer Owe The Duty Of Loyalty When Clients Are In Conflict, William Josephson, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

This Article focuses on the continuing debate on the ethical obligations of government lawyers: do government lawyers represent the people or do they represent a client? The Article explains that the dominant conception that government lawyers represent the people actually results in government lawyers representing themselves. After examining alternative approaches to determining the identity of the government lawyer’s client, the Article concludes that only one approach is consistent with both the ethical rules and our republican system of government. The government lawyer’s client properly understood is an elected official or, in certain cases, an agency head with legal authority independent …

A Uniform Rule Governing The Admission And Practice Of Attorneys Before United States District Courts, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

The increase in the interstate and international practice of law necessitates a review of the rules governing the admission of attorneys to practice before federal district courts. By virtue of the sweep of their jurisdictional net, federal district courts are likely to be the fora for litigating most interstate or international disputes. The present rules, based upon the antiquated notion that lawyers only rarely practice law in federal district court, and then only in the federal district court located in the state in which they practice, do not address this change in the practice of law.

For these reasons, a …

Discovery And Sanctions For Discovery Abuse., Joe K. Longley, Mark L. Kincaid

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.