Law Commons^™

The Codification Of Professionalism: Can You Sanction Lawyers Into Being Nice?, Debra Moss Curtis

Debra Moss Curtis

On October 31, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court in The Florida Bar v. Norkin made it clear that “it wants the trend of escalating incivility among lawyers to stop.” With that decision, in which a lawyer was suspended and publicly reprimanded for his behavior, the court urged “Members of the Florida Bar, law professors, and law students should study” this case “as a glaring example of unprofessional behavior.” This article heeds the courts’ directive to do so, but also places it in the context of the movement to enhance professionalism statewide.At the heart of the professionalism movement is a conflict—between …

Legal Education In Disruption: The Headwinds And Tailwinds Of Technology, Jon M. Garon

Faculty Scholarship

By harnessing improvements on communications and computational systems, law firms are producing a revolution in the practice of law. Self-help legal manuals have transformed into sophisticated interactive software; predictive coding can empower clients to receive sophisticated legal advice from a machine; socially mediated portals select among potential lawyers and assess the quality of the advice given; and virtual law firms threaten to distintermediate the grand edifices of twentieth century Big Law. These changes may profoundly restructure the legal practice, undermining the business model for many solo and small firm practices.

This paper focuses on the implications of these profound disruptive …