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Human Rights And The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct: Intersection And Integration, Martha F. Davis

Martha F. Davis

The American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct nowhere mention human rights as either a means or an end to ethical lawyering. The origins and history of the modern ABA Code, framed at a time when the ABA leadership was hostile to universal human rights norms, suggest possible explanations for this omission as an initial matter. But the Model Rules are frequently revised, and the ABA is now a leader in the promulgation and implementation of human rights worldwide. Still, the model ethics rules remain silent on human rights. State ethics codes, largely drawn from the ABA model, are …