Law Commons^™

Encroachment, Loss Of Five Yards: Government Attorneys And The No- Contact Rule's Place In Civil False Claims Act Investigations, Erica L. Burchell

Mercer Law Review

A telephone rings, interrupting the otherwise quiet hum of a Tuesday afternoon's work in a government attorney's office. A pair of eyes dart quickly from a blinking cursor on the computer screen to the receiver of the multiline telephone. A hand reaches forward from the keyboard to grasp the telephone receiver, and, as the receiver is raised up to the attorney's ear, with the single uttering of "good afternoon," an ethical dilemma arises. The voice on the other end of the line has information–information to share–and now the attorney must decide whether continuing the conversation would comply with the applicable …

The Case For The Four Component Model Vs. Moral Foundations Theory: A Perspective From Moral Psychology, Elizabeth C. Vozzola

Mercer Law Review

The 2016 Mercer Law Review Symposium asked speakers to address some aspect of three organizing questions about educational interventions designed to cultivate professional identity in law students. The Symposium's first proposed question of whether it is worthwhile to establish such interventions seemed largely rhetorical. The third question asked about appropriate assessment of such interventions and will be addressed in this issue by leaders in the field of legal ethics and professional program assessment. Hence, as a teacher and psychologist whose primary role in the field has been to synthesize theory and research, I chose to question the second guiding question …

Professional Identity Formation Throughout The Curriculum: Lessons From Clergy Education, Larry A. Golemon

Mercer Law Review

Clergy education is undergoing radical transformation in the United States due to changes in the profession, the religious communities served, and the larger landscape of higher education. Many reformers of theological education question whether the education of pastors, priests, and rabbis should be considered "professional" education at all. Some call for less competence training and more formation of theological habits of interpretation and reflection; others advocate for more practical and contextual training of skills and role-formation; and others emphasize the formation of personal character and religious piety. Yet most of these reformers agree that the formation of pastoral and professional …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016.1 The Article discusses attorney discipline, ineffective assistance of counsel, legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty, judicial ethics, several miscellaneous cases involving legal ethics, opinions of the Formal Advisory Opinion Board, and amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This survey covers a two-year period from June 1, 2013 to May 31, 2015. The Article discusses noteworthy Georgia appellate cases concerning attorney discipline, disqualification, ineffective assistance of counsel, judicial ethics, and legal malpractice. The Article also discusses two significant opinions from the Formal Advisory Opinion Board, amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, and several recent miscellaneous cases involving legal ethics in Georgia.

The Relationship Between Christian Theology And Legal Ethics In The Thought Of Jack Sammons, Timothy W. Floyd

Mercer Law Review

Jack Sammons is a man of enormous breadth of interests and expertise. This Symposium, with its diverse topics and contributors, is a testament to his remarkable range of thought, his unmatched creativity and originality, and his influence on generations of scholars. I am convinced that no one who has followed Jack's career for these past decades can keep up with him in all the paths he has trod. Fortunately, none of the contributors here have been asked to comment upon his entire range of scholarship.

Two areas in which Jack and I share an interest are legal ethics and Christian …

Kantian Intuitionism As A Framework For The Justification Of Moral Judgments, Robert Audi

Mercer Law Review

Intuitionism in ethics has often been thought to lack a way to unify the plural standards it endorses. It has also been taken to have at best meager resources for explaining how we should resolve conflicts between prima facie obligations. On this resolution problem, W. D. Ross appealed to Aristotelian practical wisdom. He argued that neither Kantian nor utilitarian ethics (the two most promising rival views he considered) offers an adequate alternative.' There is, however, an interpretation of Kant's humanity formula of the categorical imperative for which this negative assessment is unduly pessimistic. This paper will show why. I am …

Further Reflections On Teaching Professionalism: A Thank You Note To Jack Sammons, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

In 2009, I published Teaching Professionalism in this Law Review to describe the content and methods of Mercer's first-year course on professionalism. Since then, we have made significant changes to the course, and it seems fitting to share some of those developments in the context of a Symposium that honors the scholarship and teaching of Jack Sammons. As I noted in the earlier article, the idea for the course came from Jack before I ever came to Mercer. It is also appropriate to use this occasion for another reason. I can trace the early design of the course, and most …

The Discursive Ethics Of Jack Sammons, David T. Ritchie

Mercer Law Review

Professor Jack Sammons has been a widely celebrated teacher, community activist, and distinguished member of the bar. He is also a prolific scholar; perhaps the most prolific scholar the Mercer University School of Law has ever seen. My interest in the body of Jack's work, and hence my focus here, is on what I consider to be the core of his scholarly agenda. I would like to caution that this is my reading of Jack's work as a corpus. I am not entirely sure that Jack would agree with this reading (especially later on when I will make some connections …

Can We Keep A Secret?: The Attorney-Client Privilege And Work-Product Doctrine In The Internal Law-Firm Setting-St. Simons Waterfront, Llc V. Hunter, Maclean, Exley & Dunn, Pc., Nicholas J. Garcia

Mercer Law Review

Recognized at common law, the attorney-client privilege is often invoked for the purpose of fostering honest and fruitful communication between attorneys and their clients. In St. Simons Waterfront, LLC v. Hunter, Maclean, Exley & Dunn, P C., the Georgia Supreme Court ruled on an issue regarding the reach of this privilege that had never before been addressed in Georgia courts. St. Simons Waterfront, LLC (SSW) asked the court to determine the applicability of the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine to communication between attorneys at Hunter, Maclean, Exley & Dunn, P.C. (Hunter Maclean) and its in-house general counsel. The court …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Article covers the period from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013. During this period, the Georgia Supreme Court decided a number of lawyer-discipline cases and other matters related to licensure. The supreme court and the Georgia Court of Appeals decided cases involving legal malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, judicial ethics, and several miscellaneous matters. The supreme court also approved one significant Formal Advisory Opinion and one set of changes to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Article covers the period from June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012. As it does every year, the Georgia Supreme Court decided a number of lawyer-discipline cases and other matters related to licensure. The supreme court and the Georgia Court of Appeals decided cases involving legal malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, attorney disqualification, and judicial ethics. The State Bar of Georgia Formal Advisory Opinion Board took several actions that relate to the professional responsibilities of Georgia lawyers, and the supreme court promulgated a number of changes to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

Municipal Liability? Not So Fast: What Connick V. Thompson Means For Future Prosecutorial Misconduct, T. Owen Farist

Mercer Law Review

In Connick v. Thompson, the United States Supreme Court held that, under section 1983 of title 42 of the United States Code, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's actions failed to rise to the level of deliberate indifference required for municipal liability. The Court affirmed the possibility of "single-incident" municipal liability hypothesized in City of Canton v. Harris as an exception to the ordinary requirement of a pattern of similar violations necessary to prove the stringent standard of deliberate indifference to a known or obvious consequence. Despite upholding the validity of the exception, the Court found that Thompson's case did …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

During the survey period, from June 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011, the appellate courts in Georgia decided cases involving the discipline of lawyers, ineffective assistance of counsel, legal malpractice, judicial ethics, and attorney disqualification. The State Bar of Georgia Formal Advisory Opinion Board took several actions that relate to the professional responsibilities of Georgia lawyers.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

During the survey period from June 1, 2009 through May 31, 2010, the appellate courts in Georgia decided cases involving the discipline of lawyers, ineffective assistance of counsel, legal malpractice, bar admission, judicial ethics, and attorney disqualification. The courts also decided one case involving an important issue of professionalism and several miscellaneous cases. The State Bar of Georgia Formal Advisory Opinion Board issued several opinions that relate to the professional responsibilities of Georgia lawyers.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys legal ethics decisions of the Georgia appellate courts for a period from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009. The cases concern discipline of lawyers, ineffective assistance of counsel, judicial conduct, contempt, attorney fees, suits against lawyers, and a few miscellaneous matters.

Legal Ethics, Narrative, And Professional Identity: The Story Of David Spaulding, Timothy W. Floyd, John Gallagher

Mercer Law Review

Roger Cramton has called Spaulding v. Zimmerman "one of the great gems of law teaching." The case is extensively discussed in books and articles dealing with legal ethics and is prominently featured in professional responsibility casebooks and courses. According to Professor Cramton, "Spaulding teaches important lessons about the law and ethics of lawyering." These include "the unwillingness of lawyers, judges and the organized profession to talk openly and seriously about the situations in which threats of harm to third persons justify a breach of one of the lawyer's most sacred duties, that of confidentiality to client" and "the reality, …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

Issues of legal ethics arose during the survey year in the usual contexts of attorney discipline, malpractice, and ineffective assistance of counsel. In a handful of cases, the Georgia appellate courts also dealt with other issues related to legal ethics.

Lawyers And Prophetic Justice, Timothy Floyd

Mercer Law Review

The statue of Lady Justice, a blindfold over her eyes, holding scales in one hand and a sword in the other, is our traditional visual image of justice. The scales convey the idea of neutrality and the weighing of competing interests; they emphasize rationality and the application of neutral principles in decision making. The blindfold emphasizes equality before the law, that the law is dispassionate and objective, and that decision making is untainted by bias. The statue also implies the stability and permanence of the justice system.

In my experience with lawyers, justice is not a regular topic in our …

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.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

The Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals decided a number of cases concerning the professional responsibilities of lawyers during the survey period. Those cases concerned attorney discipline, malpractice, bar admission, attorney fees and liens, ineffective assistance of counsel, and judicial ethics and recusal.

Other People's Money: The Ethics Of Litigation Funding, Douglas R. Richmond

Mercer Law Review

Litigation can be expensive, sometimes incredibly expensive. There are investigators to employ, expert witnesses to compensate, court reporters to pay, documents to photocopy or electronically image, travel expenses, demonstrative evidence to create, and so on. An attorney's time itself is valuable. A party's time is also valuable, and plaintiffs who are disabled as a result of injuries they have sustained may need money to live on. As a result, a wealthy litigant, who can outspend a poorer litigant, is generally at an advantage and may be able to obtain a favorable settlement through attrition.

Legal Ethics, Roy M. Sobelson

Mercer Law Review

The biggest news in Georgia legal ethics this year actually made it into the general press when the Georgia Supreme Court approved a bar committee opinion confirming that real estate closings remained the exclusive province of licensed Georgia lawyers. With the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and consumer advocates all weighing in with contrary opinions, the court held firm against the inevitable, continuing criticism and cries of protectionism. Combined with the current debates over both multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional practices, it looks like the profession will continue to engage in heated debate in Georgia, if not worldwide, well into the …

Nothing Lost, Nothing Owed: Supreme Court Upholds State Iolta Program In Brown V. Legal Foundation Of Washington, Robert C. Hughes Iii

Mercer Law Review

In a 5-4 decision in Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington, the United States Supreme Court held that a state law that (1) requires lawyers and limited practitioner officers ("LPOs") to deposit client funds that cannot otherwise generate net-earning for their clients into an interest on lawyer's trust account ("IOLTA account") and (2) mandates that the interest produced on those funds be transferred to a different owner for a legitimate public use could constitute a per se taking of the clients' right to that interest, but no compensation is owed to such clients when they suffer no net loss. …

Save A Little Room For Me: The Necessity Of Naming As Inventors Practitioners Who Conceive Of Claimed Subject Matter, David Hricik, Alexandra Geczi, Zachary Thomas

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses ethical and malpractice issues arising from the fact that attorneys who prosecute patents almost inevitably add to the inventor's original disclosure to the attorney. In the course of drafting a patent application-a process in which the attorney describes, necessarily in his own words, what the client has invented-the attorney will, at minimum, contribute ideas, thoughts, and means of expression that the client had not used. The application is not a verbatim transcript of an interview with the client; it is the creation of the patent lawyer. ...

However, under established law governing inventorship and derivation, seldom during …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

Between June 1, 2002, and June 1, 2003, the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court decided over two hundred cases concerning legal ethics. Those cases included disciplinary cases against lawyers, bar admission matters, claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in criminal cases, judicial discipline and disqualification, and several miscellaneous matters involving clients and lawyers. In addition, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided one significant case involving judicial elections in Georgia.

Session One: Limits On Misleading Conduct

Mercer Law Review

A transcript featuring The Honorable Thomas Zlaket, Wm. Reece Smith, Jr., Esq., Professor Nathan Crystal, and Professor Amy Mashburn, Moderator

A Transcript Of The March 10, 2001 Luncheon Speech, Patrick E. Higginbotham

Mercer Law Review

Introduction of Judge Higginbotham by Professor Patrick Longan

Judge Higginbotham comes to us from Dallas. He has had a very distinguished career. He was a United States District Judge in Dallas for seven years and then was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In addition to his judicial duties, he has served in a number of capacities throughout his career. Most recently he served a four-year term as president of the American Inns of Court Foundation. He has served as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. He has done a number …

Session Four: Special Issues In Assisted Settlement

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Symposium Article - The Incompleteness Of The Model Rules And The Development Of Professional Standards, Nathan M. Crystal

Mercer Law Review

Rules and standards of professional conduct are proliferating. In November 2000, the American Bar Association's ("ABA's") Ethics 2000 Commission released its final report recommending changes in the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Earlier in the year the American Law Institute ("ALI") issued its long awaited Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers.

The Model Rules and the Restatement are similar in two respects. Both contain detailed rules and both are comprehensive, covering relationships between lawyers and their clients, the courts, and third parties. Standards prepared by other organizations, however, have taken a narrower approach. Some have focused on particular activities …