Law Commons^™

The Economics Of Limited Liability: An Empirical Study Of New York Law Firms, Scott Baker, Kimberly D. Krawiec

ExpressO

Since the rapid rise in organizational forms for business associations, academics and practitioners have sought to explain the choice of form rationale. Each form contains its own set of default rules that inevitably get factored into this decision, including the extent to which each individual firm owner will be held personally liable for the collective debts and obligations of the firm. The significance of the differences in these default rules continues to be debated. Many commentators have advanced theories, most notably those based on unlimited liability, profit-sharing, and illiquidity, asserting that the partnership form provides efficiency benefits that outweigh any …

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 …

Advanced Judicial Opinion Writing, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

Tax Advisor-Client Privileges And Circular 230 Revisions, B. John Williams, Stephan F. Tucker

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Lawyer Marketing: An Ethics Guide, Thomas E. Spahn

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, James M. Mccauley

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Clark Memorandum: Fall 2004, J. Reuben Clark Law Society, J. Reuben Clark Law School

The Clark Memorandum

• On the Shoulders of Giants (Elder Boyd K. Packer)
• How Do We Practice Our Religion While We Practice? (Thomas B. Griffith)
• In His Own Words (Monte Stewart)
• The Essence of Lawyering in an Atmosphere of Faith (Kevin J Worthen)

A Cloak For The Bare: In Support Of Allowing Prospective Malpractice Liability Waivers In Certain Pro Bono Cases, Steve Berenson

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Ethics And Professional Responsibility—Contingency Fees—An Attorney's Right Of Recovery When Discharged From A Contingent Fee Contract In Arkansas. Salmon V. Atkinson, 355 Ark., 137 S.W.3d 383 (2003), Eric C. Freeby

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chicken Little Lives: The Anticipated And Actual Effect Of Sarbanes-Oxley On Corporate Lawyers' Conduct, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

This article addresses the controversy surrounding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which was seen by many lawyers as threatening the relationship between lawyers and their corporate clients. Part I of this article introduces the topic by providing a brief history of the increased government regulation and enforcement actions that forced lawyers to reexamine their role in representing their clients, beginning with the case of SEC v. National Student Marketing Corp. Part II reviews the organized bar's reaction to Sarbanes-Oxley. Part III focuses on law firms' response to the legislation. Part IV considers the views of individual corporate and securities lawyers …

Solving The Everyday Problem Of Client Identity In The Context Of Closely Held Businesses, Darian M. Ibrahim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lisa Schechtman On Reproductive Health And Human Rights: Integrating Medicine, Ethics, And Law By Rebecca J. Cook, Bernard M. Dickens, And Mahmoud F. Fathalla. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 554 Pp., Lisa Schechtman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Integrating Medicine, Ethics, and Law by Rebecca J. Cook, Bernard M. Dickens, and Mahmoud F. Fathalla. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 554 pp.

An Ethos Of Lying, Paul Butler

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The "Corporate Watch Dogs" That Can't Bark: How The New Aba Ethics Rules Protect Corporate Fraud, Monroe H. Freedman

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Telling Stories And Keeping Secrets, Abbe Smith

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Broken Trust And Divided Loyalties: The Paradox Of Confidentiality In Corporate Representation, Laurie A. Morin

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Should a lawyer protect her client's confidences when she knows that client is about to perpetrate a fraud that will cause substantial financial harm to third parties? For decades, the response of the organized bar has been a resounding "yes." 1 Until August 2003, the American Bar Association's (ABA's) Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules) provided that a lawyer owes her client a duty of loyalty to preserve the client's confidences, even if that client is about to commit a criminal fraud.2 The recent wave of corporate scandals that led to record-breaking bankruptcies and investor losses prompted the ABA …

Understanding Lawyers' Ethics: Zealous Advocacy In A Time Of Uncertainty, Katherine S. Broderick

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Can or should a lawyer representing an alleged terrorist ethically allow the government to tape her conversations with her client as a prerequisite to the representation? Can a public defender live up to the promise of Gideon v. Wainright1 when he is carrying 100 serious felony cases? Should a lawyer who divulges a client confidence to bring down a corrupt judge be sanctioned? What ethical obligations obtain for the lawyer representing the CEO of a thriving start-up when the CEO admits that by over-reporting profits he believes that he has turned the company around? These questions, some of the toughest …

The Ethics Of The Adversary System, Greg S. Sergienko

ExpressO

This article considers many commonly advanced criticisms of the adversary system. It provides an analytic framework that includes the likely results of changed ethical rules and that distinguishes and analyzes separately two different possible goals of the system, seeking the truth and promoting justice. The article is also unusual in the range of supporting materials that it synthesizes, which includes contributions from economic theory, psychological studies, philosophy, and traditional legal ethics.

The article concludes that changes in ethical codes meant to increase lawyers' duty to promote the truth will have a perverse result, decreasing the accuracy of litigation. This will …

The Tenuous Case For Conscience, Steven D. Smith

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

If there is any single theme that has provided the foundation of modern liberalism and has infused our more specific constitutional commitments to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, that theme is probably “freedom of conscience.” But some observers also perceive a progressive cheapening of conscience– even a sort of degradation. Such criticisms suggest the need for a contemporary rethinking of conscience. When we reverently invoke “conscience,” do we have any idea what we are talking about? Or are we just exploiting a venerable theme for rhetorical purposes without any clear sense of what “conscience” is or why it …

Prosecutorial Neutrality, Fred C. Zacharias, Bruce A. Green

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

This Article examines the ideal of prosecutorial neutrality in an effort to determine its value as a measure of prosecutorial conduct. Commentators often have assumed that prosecutors should be “neutral” in making discretionary decisions or have criticized prosecutors for decisions that purportedly demonstrate a lack of neutrality. The notion of prosecutorial neutrality recalls the traditional conception of prosecutors as “quasi-judicial” officers and emphasizes the distinction between prosecutors and lawyers for private parties. But the specific meaning attributed to prosecutorial neutrality has varied depending on the context. The term refers to diverse, and potentially inconsistent, views of appropriate prosecutorial conduct. The …

Understanding Recent Trends In Federal Regulation Of Lawyers, Fred C. Zacharias

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

Federal lawmakers increasingly have taken actions that contradict, interfere with, or preempt state regulation of lawyers. Most of the commentary regarding the recent federal actions has focused on whether individual regulations are substantively justified. It is, however, worth considering more broadly whether and how the phenomenon of increasing federal regulation is symptomatic of changing views of appropriate professional regulation. This article considers a series of theoretical analyses of the increasing federal regulation -- themes and trends that the increasing regulation might represent or epitomize. Whenever the bar or other commentators criticize developments in professional regulation, it is important to place …

Lawyers As Gatekeepers, Fred C. Zacharias

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

Three recent legislative and regulatory initiatives -- the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the 2003 amendments to Model Rules 1.6 and 1.13, and the Gatekeeper Initiative – all seek to enlist the assistance of lawyers in thwarting crime. Outraged opponents have relied on flamboyant rhetoric. They challenge the notion that lawyers should act as gatekeepers – which some of the opponents deem equivalent to operating like the “secret police in Eastern European countries.” This article makes a simple, and ultimately uncontroversial, point. Lawyers are gatekeepers, and always have been. Whatever one’s position on the merits of the specific reforms currently being proposed, it …

Mental Disorder And The Civil/Criminal Distinction, Grant H. Morris

University of San Diego Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series

This essay, written as part of a symposium issue to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the University of San Diego Law School, discusses the evaporating distinction between sentence-serving convicts and mentally disordered nonconvicts who are involved in, or who were involved in, the criminal process–people we label as both bad and mad. By examining one Supreme Court case from each of the decades that follow the opening of the University of San Diego School of Law, the essay demonstrates how the promise that nonconvict mentally disordered persons would be treated equally with other civilly committed mental patients was made and …

Prescription For Death?: Psychotic Capital Defendants And The Need For Medication, Joseph R. Dunn

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Riner V. Newbraugh: The Role Of Mediator Testimony In The Enforcement Of Mediated Agreements, Joshua S. Rogers

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

"May It Please The Camera,...I Mean The Court"--An Intrajudicial Solution To An Extrajudicial Problem, Lonnie T. Brown

Scholarly Works

This Article explores the depths of the ethical issues presented when lawyers zealously advocate on behalf of their clients to the media, as well as the negative public policy ramifications that such behavior generates. The latter effect most seriously signals the need for reform in this area. Part II of the Article provides insight into the principal source of the problem--the ineffectiveness of the existing regulatory devices. This section traces the evolution of the ethical rules that pertain to public commentary by lawyers from the early days of steadfast condemnation to the modern appraoch of cautious equivocation. It also considers …

Return To Sender? Inadvertent Disclosure Of Privileged Information, Richard J. Heafey

ExpressO

A 1992 ABA Ethics Opinion directs lawyers not to read privileged information inadvertently sent by an adversary or other attorney. But the ethical obligations all lawyers owe to the courts and to their own clients conflict with that opinion. A better rule would hold that information does not remain privileged after it has been voluntarily transmitted to an opposing lawyer.

Sex, Lies, And Clients: From Bill Clinton To Oscar Wilde, Steven Lubet

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Clasificación De Las Causas De La Revocación De Sentencias Por Operación Del Recurso Extraordinario (Gráficos), Horacio M. Lynch

Horacio M. LYNCH

No abstract provided.

The Georgia Justice Project, Amelia J. Uelmen

Amelia J Uelmen

No abstract provided.