Law Commons^™

Of Prosecutors And Prejudice (Or "Do Prosecutors Have An Ethical Obligation Not To Say Racist Stuff On Social Media?"), Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

Over the past few years, there have been numerous news stories about prosecutors posting racially inflammatory content on their social media accounts. There have also been several incidents in recent years in which prosecutors have commented on matters of public concern on social media in a way that is not overtly racist but nonetheless raises legitimate concerns over the prosecutors’ integrity and appreciation of the special role that prosecutors play. Concerns over the extent to which prosecutors bring their personal biases into the courtroom have only increased in recent years and have contributed to the doubts as to the overall …

The Lawyer As Public Figure For First Amendment Purposes, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

Should lawyers be treated as public figures for purposes of defamation claims and, therefore, be subjected to a higher evidentiary standard of actual malice under the Supreme Court’s decision in New York Times v. Sullivan? The question of whether lawyers should be treated as public figures raises broad questions about the nature of defamation law and the legal profession. By examining the Supreme Court’s defamation jurisprudence through the lens of cases involving lawyers as plaintiffs, one can see the deficiencies and inconsistencies in the Court’s opinions more clearly. And by examining the Court’s defamation cases through this lens, one can …

Teaching The Newly Essential Knowledge, Skills, And Values In A Changing World, Paula Schaefer, Lisa Bliss, Robin A. Boyle, Sylvia B. Caley, Deborah L. Rhode

Scholarly Works

This chapter of Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World has contributions from many authors:

• Section A, Professional Identity Formation, includes:
  • Teaching Knowledge, Skills, and Values of Professional Identity Formation, by Larry O. Natt Gantt, II & Benjamin V. Madison III,
  • Integrating Professionalism into Doctrinally-Focused Courses, by Paula Schaefer,
  • Learning Professional Responsibility, by Clark D. Cunningham, and
  • Teaching Leadership, by Deborah L. Rhode.
• Section B, Pro Bono as a Professional Value, is by Cynthia F. Adcock, Eden E. Harrington, Elizabeth Kane, Susan Schechter, David S. Udell & Eliza Vorenberg.
• Section C, The Relational Skills of the …

Harper Lee's First Novel: A Review Of Go Set A Watchman, Judy Cornett

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits Of Markets, Maurice Stucke

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Indie Lawyering: A New Model For Solo And Small Firm Practice, Lucille Jewel

Scholarly Works

Indie lawyering is a new style of lawyering that uses technology to connect the individual practitioner with individual clients and collaboratively solve legal problems in a community-centered way.

The Tax Man's Ethics: Four Of The Hardest Ethical Questions For An Irs Lawyer, Michelle M. Kwon

Scholarly Works

The traditional approach to legal ethics often is characterized to mean that lawyers must zealously advocate for their clients’ objectives tempered only by the bounds of the law. In contrast to the traditional approach, the public interest approach to legal ethics extends a government lawyer’s professional ethical duties from the agency client to the public at large to further the public interest. Commentators, in advocating either the traditional approach or the public interest approach to government lawyering, disagree about whether a government lawyer owes some sort of duty to the public and if so, the nature and scope of that …

You're Doing It Wrong: How The Anti-Law School Scam Blogging Movement Can Shape The Legal Profession, Lucille Jewel

Scholarly Works

One of the biggest social advancements that the Internet has given us is the capacity for an individual’s idea to reach a mass audience. Internet-based communication forms, particularly blogs, enable an idea to gain credence without the involvement of traditional mass media outlets, such as newspapers or television stations. With no “top-down” filter that controls what ideas get disseminated, the Internet can amplify voices speaking from outside the mainstream culture that perhaps would not be heard under the traditional media system. The open network structure of the Internet also allows ideas to reach broad audiences and enables individuals, operating independently, …

Atticus Finch: Christian Or Civic Hero - A Response To Professor Mcmillian, Judy Cornett

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Through A Glass Darkly: Using Brain Science And Visual Rhetoric To Gain A Professional Perspective On Visual Advocacy, Lucille Jewel

Scholarly Works

American legal culture, tracking the trend within the media culture as a whole, has become inherently more visual. Visual competency is now required for effective persuasion in the courtroom and in a variety of other advocacy settings. The central thesis of this Article is that visual advocacy is here to stay, but that there is a large knowledge gap that prevents advocates from being able to evaluate the professionalism of their own visual arguments and properly respond to the visual arguments submitted by their opposing counsel.

Accordingly, this Article offers a detailed outline of the knowledge bases that attorneys need …

The Ethics Of Blawging: A Genre Analysis, Judy Cornett

Scholarly Works

Lawyers are blogging. As of October 16, 2009, the website Blawg.com tracked 2,788 legal blogs ("blawgs"). Another blawg directory compiled 4,622 blawgs in 69 substantive categories. When lawyers communicate, by whatever medium, ethical dilemmas arise; when lawyers blog, ethical dilemmas arise that are unique to blogging. The most visible ethical debate inspired by this new genre is the issue of whether to treat a lawyer's blog as advertising. Surprisingly, given the popularity of blawging, there are few resources addressing the full range of its ethical ramifications. This Article applies genre theory to blawging in order to highlight certain characteristics of …

The Aba, The Rules, And Professionalism: The Mechanics Of Self-Defeat And A Call For A Return To The Ethical, Moral, And Practical Approach Of The Canons, Benjamin H. Barton

Scholarly Works

In this Article I argue that there was once a single animating goal for American legal ethics - providing moral, ethical, and practical guidance on practicing law. Throughout the 20th Century lawyer regulators worked to bisect that goal, and we now have two quite distinct, and frequently conflicting goals. On the one hand, bar regulators pushed ceaselessly to narrow the regulations governing lawyer conduct to black-letter minimum, and eliminated the broadly moral from the Rules. On the other hand, bar regulators sought to raise lawyers' ethical and moral standards through professionalism and other non-mandatory efforts.

These bisected goals clash in …