Law Commons^™

Advocating For The Future, John C. Dernbach, Irma S. Russell, Matthew Bogoshian

Faculty Works

Attorneys in our varied roles need to step up and address the climate crisis for the sake of every person and for the public good. All lawyers must be sustainability lawyers now. This article explains why; it also offers an illustrative set of suggestions on how to get started and what to do.

The Duty Of Legislative Counsel As Guardians Of The Statute Book: Sui Generis Or A Professional Duty Of Lawyers?, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Legislative counsel—those who draft legislation for the executive or for legislative assemblies—are largely overlooked in the Canadian legal literature and case law. One respect in which legislative counsel appear to be unique is their duty as guardians or keepers of the statute book. This article argues that this Guardian duty is best understood as a professional duty of legislative counsel as lawyers. In the same way that all lawyers have professional duties as officers of the court, though these duties are most relevant to litigators, all lawyers have professional duties as officers of the statute book, though these duties are …

The Premier Should Not Also Be The Attorney General: Roncarelli V Duplessis Revisited As A Cautionary Tale In Legal Ethics And Professionalism, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

From time to time, a Premier or Prime Minister appoints themself as Attorney General. In this article, I argue that this dual portfolio is inherently and incurably problematic and should be avoided and indeed prohibited. I do so from the perspective of legal ethics and professionalism. The springboard for my analysis is the conduct of Quebec Premier and Attorney General Maurice Duplessis in the classic case of Roncarelli v Duplessis. While there may well be perceived benefits that tempt Premiers to serve in the dual role, any lawyer who does so unavoidably violates his or her professional obligations. For …

The Informed Consent Doctrine In Legal Malpractice Law, Vincent R. Johnson

Faculty Articles

The doctrine of informed consent is now deeply embedded into the law of legal ethics. In legal malpractice litigation, the doctrine holds that a lawyer has a duty to disclose to a client material information about the risks and alternatives associated with a course of action. A lawyer who fails to make such required disclosures and fails to obtain informed consent is negligent, regardless of whether the lawyer otherwise exercises care in representing a client. If such negligent nondisclosures cause damages, the lawyer can be held accountable for the client's losses.

Shifting the focus of a legal malpractice action from …