Law Commons^™

The “Corporation Revolution” And The Professional Ethics Of Giving Advice On Executive Protection Issues, Sarah Helene Duggin, Shannon "A.J." Singleton, James D. Wing

Scholarly Articles

In today's law enforcement environment, business entities facing criminal investigations and possible indictment have little practical choice but to cooperate with authorities. Cooperation offers the opportunity to avoid a costly trial and attendant adverse reputational, financial, and morale impacts. Resolution of potential criminal charges, however, almost always requires entities to cooperate with law enforcement efforts to impose criminal liability on individual business executives.

While businesses and their executives once generally perceived their interests as closely aligned, the “Cooperation Revolution” of the last few decades has forced corporate boards and business executives to reassess their individual obligations and risks. In so …

William Pincus: A Life In Service – Government, Philanthropy And Legal Education, J.P. "Sandy" Ogilvy

Scholarly Articles

This article memorializes the life and accomplishments of William “Bill” Pincus. The article brings the reader through Mr. Pincus’s career accomplishments, from his humble beginnings in New York City, to his impressive career in civil service, culminating in his work with the Ford Foundation and the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility (CLEPR), where he spearheaded reforms in legal education. Mr. Pincus’s efforts were critical in establishing clinical legal education, drawing from his experiences both in law and government. Much of this article is derived from interviews of Mr. Pincus, conducted by the author, and provides an unprecedented insight …

Attorney Responsibility And Client Incapacity, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

This Article suggests what an attorney should consider when representing a client suspected by the attorney of having diminished capacity, anticipating diminished capacity, or a client anticipating a response to the legal dilemmas posed by aging. So too, this Article suggests what an attorney should consider when retained by the family members of an allegedly incapacitate person. After providing demographics regarding aging, this Article will specifically address the attorney-client relationship in the context of the Model Rules of the American Bar Association. Next, this Article will integrate the attorney's responsibility regarding the proper execution of a Last Will and Testament, …

Integrating Catholic Social Thought In Elder Law And Estate Planning Courses: Reflections On Law, Age And Ethics, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

A course in elder law or estate planning encompasses many of the most profound issues that arise in human life: the contemplation of mortality, ambivalent attitudes toward property and its proper distribution, complexities in family relationships, obligations to support loved ones, anticipation of physical or mental challenges, and reflections on one’s desired legacy to loved ones. Although there is much in the Catholic tradition and in the Scriptures themselves that speaks to these questions in an indirect way, this has not often been fully explored because this field may not, on its face, have an obvious connection to religious tradition. …

Celebrating Clepr’S 40th Anniversary: The Early Development Of The Clinical Legal Education And Legal Ethics Instruction In U.S. Law Schools, J.P. "Sandy" Ogilvy

Scholarly Articles

This article introduces the essays, articles, and remarks celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility (CLEPR). The Section on Professional Responsibility and Section on Clinical Legal Education of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) jointly sponsored a half-day program at the 2009 AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, in recognition of the fortieth anniversary of CLEPR and the one hundredth anniversary of the promulgation of the American Bar Association Canons of Professional Ethics, the ABA's first effort at establishing a private law of lawyering to govern its members. After …

Researching Legal Ethics, Stephen E. Young

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Buried Bodies Case: Alive And Well After Thirty Years, Lisa G. Lerman, Frank H. Armani, Thomas D. Morgan, Monroe H. Freedman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

First Do No Harm: Law Professor Misconduct Toward Law Students, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

A Double Standard For Lawyer Dishonesty: Billing Fraud Versus Misappropriation, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

In this Article, I examine the dishonest billing practices alleged to have occurred and the analysis of the dishonesty by the Hearing Committee and the court. I offer a critique of the investigation of the case, the findings of fact and the legal standards applied. I compare this billing fraud case to the leading case on misappropriation of client funds in the District of Columbia. I argue that the decision-makers (Hearing Committee, Board on Professional Responsibility, and court of appeals) have gone to great lengths to avoid addressing the very grave dishonesty that led to this disciplinary matter. I speculate …

A Legal Career For All Seasons: Remembering St. Thomas More’S Vocation, Veryl Victoria Miles

Scholarly Articles

The vast majority of the work taking place in most law schools is the preparation of law students for the practice of law; namely, to teach legal theory and doctrine, legal analysis, writing, and advocacy. In sum, the goal of most law schools is to teach the many different skills required in law practice and the professional rules of legal ethics. What appears to be lacking in the preparation of future lawyers are lessons on how to incorporate this vast amount of specialized learning and skill in ways that will be harmonious with the personal, moral, and ethical values that …

Teaching Ethics In And Outside Of Law Schools: What Works And What Doesn’T, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No matter the setting or the audience, certain approaches are more likely than others to engage the students in learning the relevant law and exploring the array of dilemmas that lawyers encounter in practice. Some methods are more likely than others to help students to increase their ability to recognize ethical dilemmas and to understand the institutional dynamics and economic pressures that lead some lawyers to rationalize unethical conduct. On the other hand, some approaches to teaching ethics are almost certain to fail, to produce boredom, animosity, cynicism or alienation among participants. What follows is a short inventory of some …

Greed Among American Lawyers, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Misconduct By Law Professors: Why It Matters, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Internal Corporate Investigations: Legal Ethics, Professionalism And The Employee Interview, Sarah Helene Duggin

Scholarly Articles

This article addresses key ethical issues pertaining to the conduct of employee interviews in the course of internal corporate investigations. The discussion focuses on business corporations, but it is equally applicable to other for-profit and not-for-profit organizations." Part II provides background information on developments in organizational criminal liability over the past two decades, the importance of the United States Sentencing Commission's Organizational Sentencing Guidelines, and the concomitant emergence of the internal investigation as an integral part of modern corporate legal practice. Part III examines law enforcement authorities' growing insistence on corporate "cooperation" as a prerequisite to participation in voluntary disclosure …

The Slippery Slope From Ambition To Greed To Dishonesty: Lawyers, Money And Professional Integrity, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Legal Services Provision Through Non- Profit Multidisciplinary Practice – Encouraging Holistic Advocacy, While Protecting Ethical Interests, Stacy Brustin

Scholarly Articles

This Article examines the current debate on multidisciplinary practice (MDP) in the context of legal services provision in a non-profit setting and suggests ways for advocates and non-profit organizations to reap the benefits of MDP while avoiding the potential ethical pitfalls of such arrangements. Part I of the Article outlines the benefits of using a multidisciplinary model to address the legal needs of clients who are traditionally marginalized from the United States legal system. Part II explores the ethical debate surrounding multidisciplinary practice and analyzes whether the current rules of professional conduct prohibiting multidisciplinary practice apply to nonprofit organizations. Part …

Misattribution In Legal Scholarship: Plagiarism, Ghostwriting, And Authorship, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Teaching Professional Responsibility In Legal Clinics Around The World, Leah Wortham

Scholarly Articles

At a March 1999 Colloquium on Clinical Legal Education,1 a group of about 20 people, including a number of law faculty already teaching or planning to teach legal clinics in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union , were asked, "What are the goals that you think are most important for a legal clinic?" The most common answers were teaching about ethics and improving the ethical standards of law practice in participants' respective countries through this focus in legal education.

Should An Attorney Be Required To Advise Client Of Adr Options?, Marshall J. Breger

Scholarly Articles

In recent years alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has moved from the margins of legal practice into the mainstream. It is no longer the exception for attorneys to employ or clients to request ADR services in almost every aspect of legal representation. This shift to the legal mainstream raises the question whether attorneys, as part of their general obligation to keep clients informed of their legal alternatives, should be required to advise their clients regarding ADR options. This paper will consider this question. In doing so, it will consider, at least inferentially, the character and purpose of ethics "rules."

Professional And Ethical Issues In Legal Externships: Fostering Commitment To Public Service, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

In this Article, I explore the larger issue of professional choices presented to law student externs. Then I explore some of the particular ethical dilemmas that law students and their teachers encounter in externship programs.

Blue-Chip Bilking: Regulation Of Billing And Expense Fraud By Lawyers, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

This study of recent cases of billing and expense fraud confirms the views of David Wilkins, Ted Schneyer, and many other scholars that the disciplinary system performs only one of several needed regulatory functions. The cases demonstrate the need for public and private regulatory responses that not only receive and investigate complaints, but also provide education, prevention, proactive monitoring, and remediation. Lawyers who engage in billing and expense fraud should be fired, disbarred, prosecuted on criminal charges, sued for malpractice. If the public and private organizations that can attend to this problem take it seriously, the norms in the legal …

Regulation Of Unethical Billing Practices: Progress And Prospects, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

During the last ten years billing fraud by lawyers has been recognized as a serious problem that undermines clients' trust of lawyers and the reputation of the profession as a whole. It used to be thought that lawyers who wanted to steal their clients' money would just take money out of the trust account. In recent years it has become clear that dishonest lawyers' methods of misappropriation are far more diverse than that.

The focus of this paper is on billing misconduct by lawyers who contract with their clients to bill by the hour. I will not talk about lawyers …

Teaching Moral Perception And Moral Judgment In Legal Ethics Courses: A Dialogue About Goals, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

The first topic discussed at the 1997 W.M. Keck Foundation Forum on the Teaching of Legal Ethics was setting goals for the teaching of professional responsibility.

In this Essay, I report some of the ideas that were exchanged during the discussion 17 and comment on a few of them. I also will discuss experimental teaching initiatives that some panelists have undertaken to implement their articulated goals. Then I will comment on some of the problems we encounter in setting goals for the teaching of professional responsibility and on the implications of these observations for our law schools' curricula.

A Teacher’S Trouble: Risk, Responsibility And Rebellion, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

What follows is an edited transcript of a session at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 7, 1995. The meeting was a joint plenary session of the AALS Section on Professional Responsibility and the Section on Clinical Legal Education. The meeting was planned and the role plays were written by Professors Margaret Martin Barry and Lisa Lerman of The Catholic University of America and Professor Homer La Rue of Howard University.

The purpose of the program was to foster interaction among teachers of professional responsibility and clinical teachers about …

New York Attorney Malpractice Liability To Non-Clients: Toward A Rule Of Reason And Predictability, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

This 1995 Article addresses the question of attorney liability in New York. It begins with a brief introduction to the history of the privity requirement nationally to place the New York question in context. It then traces the scope of attorney liability in New York and examines the state of that law - with its contradictions and inconsistences. This Article proposes a rule for New York courts to consider that centers on the “adversariness” of the client and the third party as the touchstone for determining if expanded liability is appropriate.

This differs from the traditional analysis which bases the …

Fee-For-Service Clinical Teaching: Slipping Toward Commercialism, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Gross Profits? Questions About Lawyer Billing Practices, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Teaching Professional Responsibility In Law School, Leah Wortham

Scholarly Articles

I was pleased to be asked to write about teaching professional responsibility in law school. Ten years and sixteen classes of professional responsibility have allowed me to form many views. The following is organized in a variation of the journalist's standard five questions (who, what, when, where, and how). I consider WHAT to teach in professional responsibility courses, WHO should teach them, WHEN to teach the subject, HOW to teach it, and WHY it is hard to do.

Public Service By Public Servants, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Lying To Clients, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

Moral philosopher Sissela Bok defines a lie as "any intentionally deceptive message which is stated." She defines deception more broadly, as encompassing "messages meant to mislead [others] ... through gesture, through disguise, by means of action or inaction, even through silence." This broader category of deception is the subject of study here. This Article will examine overt misstatements and deliberate omissions or failures to disclose information. The determining factor in identifying deception is the lawyer's intent. If the lawyer intends to deceive a client, he or she may accomplish this by telling a lie or by withholding information. Deception by …