Digital Commons Network^™

The Obligation Of Legal Aid Lawyers To Champion Practice By Nonlawyers, Deborah J. Cantrell

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Obligation Of Legal Aid Lawyers To Champion Practice By Nonlawyers, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

No abstract provided.

Gambling With Ethics And Constitutional Rights: A Look At Issues Involved With Contingent Fee Arrangements In Criminal Defense Practice, Adam Silberlight

Seattle University Law Review

This Article attempts to shed light on the use of a contingent fee arrangement in criminal defense, and offers differing views pertaining to this topic. First, this Article will generally describe what a contingent fee is. Second, the role and potential application of the contingent fee in both criminal and civil settings will be discussed. Third, problems associated with such an arrangement in criminal defense practice will be addressed, as will certain positive aspects of such an arrangement. Finally, this article will discuss how lawmakers could address this issue to ensure that contingency arrangements cannot be abused.

Legal Malpractice In Texas: Examining Selected Cases And Forecasting Future Trrends Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Wallace B. Jefferson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Little hard data exists concerning legal malpractice in Texas. What’s more, few legal law malpractice rulings are published. To date, there are only fifty written opinions on legal malpractice from Texas intermediate appellate courts. The activity that most often gave rise to a claim of legal malpractice involved the preparation, filing, and transmittal of documents, accounting for about a quarter of all claims. In San Antonio, Chief Justice Alma Lopez of the Fourth District Court of Appeals discussed common issues she sees in her courtroom. The issues ranged from failures to follow simple court rules to more substantial failures of …

The Ethical Obligation Of Transactional Lawyer To Act As Gatekeepers, Rutheford B. Campbell Jr., Eugene R. Gaetke

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Recent examples of managerial misconduct at major corporations have called into question the adequacy of the gatekeeper role provided by transactional lawyers representing corporations. That role is governed by Model Rule 1.13(b), which obligates the lawyer for a corporation to take remedial action if the lawyer knows that corporate managers are engaged in actions that amount to a "violation of a legal obligation" to the corporation or that are unlawful and likely to result in substantial injury to the corporation. In addition, Model Rule 1.2(d) forbids a lawyer from lending assistance to any action by corporate managers "that the lawyer …

What Gets Judges In Trouble, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

I wrote this article to collect some cautionary material about “what gets judges in trouble.” I wanted something I could offer to our state judges, practitioners, and my legal ethics students. While I have never been a judge, and while I have never worked for a judicial conduct organization, I have been a law professor for almost twenty-five years and the chairman of a state bar association ethics committee for fourteen. I am not the kind of person who would refrain from holding forth just because I may not know what I am talking about.

When I started out, I …

I Don't Have Time To Be Ethical: Addressing The Effects Of Billable Hour Pressure, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the unintended consequences of the billable hour derby and suggests changes to address the deleterious effects of increasing billable hour requirements. A brief introduction identifies law firms’ recent tendency to increase the billable hour requirements to fund the heightened salaries of associates. This article analyzes the results from an empirical study focused on the effects of billable hour expectations and firm cultures. Part I generally reviews the study findings. Part II discusses the work and report of the ABA Commission, while Part III indentifies those issues and approaches that the ABA and firm managers should explore. Recognizing …

Whistleblowing In A Foreign Key: The Consistency Of Ethics Regulation Under Sarbanes-Oxley With The Wto Gats Provisions, Stewart M. Young

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

An Ethics Critique Of Interference In Law School Clinics, Robert R. Kuehn, Peter A. Joy

Fordham Law Review

Law school clinics play an increasingly important role in training future lawyers and providing legal assistance to traditionally under-represented individuals and groups. In addition to facing the legal issues present in any law practice, law clinic students and faculty often confront ethical issues that lawyers representing poor and unpopular clients sometimes face - outside interference in case and client selection. This article explores the ethical considerations raised by interference in law school clinic case and client selection and limitations on the means of representation lawyers may employ in representing their clients. The article's analysis provides a useful framework for responding …

New York Revises Ethics Rules To Permit Limited Mdps: A Critical Analysis Of The New York Approach, The Future Of The Mdp Debate After Enron, And Recommendations For Other Jurisdictions, John P. Lucci

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

What I Think That I Have Learned About Legal Ethics, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this short piece I want to say a few things that other academics teaching legal ethics may find disturbing. I say this because I believe that I may be swimming against the current academic fashion. Of course, it is possible that I do not have a very good handle on the current academic fashion. I hope I am not setting up a straw person to knock down, but I may be. If I am, I am sure someone will call me to task. What I am going to say is this: contrary to popular belief (among practitioners, at least) …

The Cost Of Humanitarian Assistance: Ethical Rules And The First Amendment, John P. Sahl

Akron Law Faculty Publications

For many Americans, the choice between affording legal assistance--a luxury item--and covering basic living expenses appears to represent a choice in name only. Most states prohibit lawyers from providing clients with financial assistance to cover these living expenses. In a few states, lawyers may help clients with living expenses by advancing or guaranteeing financial assistance. Given accurate information about the availability of legal services, poor people may find themselves able to protect important legal rights.

In Part I, this Article reviews the origins of and reasons for the ban on lawyer advancement of living expenses to clients when litigation is …

The Myth Of Civic Republicanism: Interrogating The Ideology Of Antebellum Legal Ethics, Norman W. Spaulding

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Considering The A.B.A.'S 1908 Canons Of Ethics, James M. Altman

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Between Law And Virtue, Joseph P. Tomain, Barbara Watts

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Legal ethics, professional responsibility, and professionalism are timely topics as lawyers continually reevaluate the standards of their profession, particularly in light of the challenges of multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional practice, as well as the embarrassment facing lawyers involved in and surrounding the Enron collapse. In this article, our goal is to discuss how to think and talk about ethics and professionalism. By way of preview, we need to understand that ethics and professionalism use different vocabularies and, consequently, talk past each other to some extent. Our hope is that understanding the existence of these two vocabularies helps reduce the misunderstanding. Both …

Keynote: Law, Lawyers, And The Pursuit Of Justice, Deborah L. Rhode

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Justice For Intersts Of The Poor: The Problem Of Navigating The System Without Counsel, Deborah J. Cantrell

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Stricture And Structure: The Social And Cultural Context Of Pro Bono Work In Wall Street Firms, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professional Commitments In A Changed World, Tanina Rostain

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reforming Law Practice In The Pursuit Of Justice: The Perils Of Privileging "Public" Over Professional Values, Ted Schneyer

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doing Good While Doing Well In The Twenty-First Century: One Cuban's Perspective, Yvonee A. Tamayo

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulation And Responsibility For Lawyers In The Twenty-First Century, Benjamin C. Zipursky

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fortifying A Law Firm's Ethical Infrastructure: Avoiding Legal Malpractice Claims Based On Conflicts Of Interest Symposium: Legal Malpractice And Professional Responsibility., Susan Saab Fortney, Jett Hanna

St. Mary's Law Journal

This article addresses the prevailing problem of malpractice claims based on conflicts of interest. Part I of this article introduces the topic by underscoring the seriousness of all conflicts of interest and recommending preventative action. Part II describes measures that law firms can take to detect and manage conflicts and analyzes the effect of the firm’s ability to avoid conflicts claims on a firm’s ethical infrastructure. Part III focuses on some of the most common conflicts situations that result in malpractice claims and sanctions. The discussion includes selected conflicts cases that illustrate problems and patterns. Part IV concludes by urging …

Fit And Functional In Legal Ethics: Developing A Code Of Conduct For International Arbitration, Catherine A. Rogers

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this Article, the author develops a methodology for prescribing the normative content of a code of ethics for international arbitration, and in a forthcoming companion article, integrated mechanisms for making those norms both binding and enforceable are proposed. In making these proposals, the author rejects the classical conception of legal ethics as a purely deontological product derived from first principles. This Article argues, instead, that ethics derive from the inter-relational functional role of advocates in an adjudicatory system, and that ethical regulation must correlate with the structural operations of the system. The fit between ethics and function, the author …

Ethics, Race, And Reform, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Fit And Function In Legal Ethics: Developing A Code Of Conduct For International Arbitration, Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I develop a methodology for prescribing the normative content of a code of ethics for international arbitration, and in a forthcoming companion article, I propose integrated mechanisms for making those norms both binding and enforceable. In making these proposals, I reject the classical conception of legal ethics as a purely deontological product derived from first principles. I argue, instead, that ethics derive from the interrelational functional role of advocates in an adjudicatory system, and that ethical regulation must correlate with the structural operations of the system. The fit between ethics and function, I will demonstrate, not only …

Promoting Effective Ethical Infrastructure In Large Law Firms: A Call For Research And Reporting, Elizabeth Chambliss, David B. Wilkins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Furthering Justice By Improving The Adversary System And Making Lawyers More Accountable, Roger C. Cramton

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Choice Of Law In Online Legal Ethics: Changing A Vague Standard For Attorney Advertising On The Internet, Daniel Backer

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Community Prosecutors, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.