Law Commons^™

The International Human Rights Committee: The Global Influence Of The City Bar, Mark R. Shulman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Response To Thomas Steele, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The problem with adjunct professors teaching a course in law practice management is that they really are not in a position to think and write about the big issues, the way that full-time faculty members are; they generally have full-time responsibilities in a law firm. The law practice management field loses something valuable when so many of its teachers are part time. Although these professors bring practical experience to the classroom, they do not contribute in a larger way to the law school curriculum as a whole, or to the literature of the legal profession.

Opening Remarks, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Interestingly, there is hardly any scholarship, and very little discussion, about the MacCrate Report outside of the clinical and skills programs in the traditional segments of legal education. I am not a clinician, although in the past I have taught courses in interviewing and counseling, and negotiations. I teach Law Practice Management and Professional Responsibility, which address professional skills and values; but I teach Torts as well, and my Torts colleagues, like teachers in other traditional subjects, really do not focus on these issues very much. So, one of the things I wanted to do with this symposium was to …

Multijurisdictional Practice Of Law: Recent Developments In The National Debate, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article will explore the development of multijurisdictional practice in the United States and abroad. Part III will discuss the positions taken by various participants in the current debate on multijurisdictional practice. Part IV will examine the actions of the American Bar Association House of Delegates in August 2002 and the implications of those actions for lawyers. Part V will conclude that MJP reform is critical to the future of the legal profession in the United States as a fundamental tool for American business to remain competitive in the globalized marketplace for goods and services.

A Response To Russell Pearce, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

There is not very much to criticize in what Professor Pearce has said about the MacCrate Report. Mostly, therefore, I will just amplify some of the points that I regard as among the most important. Before that, however, I want to mention some quibbles. First, I have always been bothered a bit when people describe the lawyer's role as that of a hired gun. The term “hired gun” is (if you'll pardon the expression) loaded. It does not, moreover, correctly capture either the good or the questionable of what lawyers actually try to do when representing their clients. Real hired …

Of Rants And Money, Jack Mcneill

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

We should create and maintain a bright line between professionals and nonprofessionals in law libraries. If we fail to acknowledge any difference between professionals and non-professionals, why should our employers? The least we should ask of people seeking to enter the profession is to make a commitment to the profession by earning a degree. Rather than act as individuals within a profession, we must act as professional individuals, continually aware of how our individual actions will influence our field. Perhaps then we can stop ranting and begin enjoying the fruits of our professional labor.

Legal Skills For A Transforming Profession, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The legal profession is undergoing dramatic changes that will drive a reformation in legal education. Legal educators must anticipate these changes to effectively prepare students for the practice of law in the twenty-first century. In order to be proficient practitioners, these students will require an expanded set of professional skills. Although the current legal skills paradigm was articulated by the American Bar Association MacCrate Task Force in 1991, it is time to reexamine legal skills with an eye toward preparing students to practice law in the new millennium. In Section II, this article examines trends in modern society and the …

Practicing Law Across Geographic And Professional Borders: What Does The Future Hold?, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A new global business reality is transforming the practice of law. Nowhere is this transformation more apparent than in the areas of multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary practice. These two trends, towards practice across jurisdictional boundaries on the one hand and across professional boundaries on the other, are engaging the attention of lawyers at the American Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association: the American Corporate Counsel Association, the International Bar Association, as well as numerous other state and local, international, and specialty bar associations. This article describes that new business reality, those trends, and some of the ethical constraints presented by current …

Bringing The Practice To The Classroom: An Approach To The Professionalism Problem, Steven H. Goldberg

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The first section of this article presents a brief history and description of a professionalism movement that continues to urge law schools to do more to solve the “professionalism problem.” The second discusses legal education's failure to bring professionalism into the law school curriculum. The third describes the structure and teaching method of The Practice—a different kind of course about professionalism—while the fourth discusses the professionalism content of the course. I conclude with a plea for law faculty to direct their considerable talents toward collecting stories and data about the profession and creating material to facilitate law school courses that …

Abuse Of Confidentiality And Fabricated Controversy: Two Proposals, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article is framed as a discussion of two proposals for modifying the Model Rules. One would declare fabricated controversy to be out of bounds as a tactical tool. The other would expressly affirm that it is an abuse of confidentiality for lawyers to engage in strategies of partial-truth advocacy, to assert partial truths while deliberately holding back other information that the lawyer should know is needed in order not to mislead others. Both of these techniques, fabrication of controversy and partial-truth advocacy, tend to undercut the trial as a “search for truth” and both interfere with negotiations as a …

The National Association Of Honest Lawyers: An Essay On Honesty, "Lawyer Honesty" And Public Trust In The Legal System, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The growing public disquiet about lawyer ethics is not mainly because people think lawyers neglect their professional standards. Rather, the main problem is the belief among lawyers that the duty of loyalty to clients requires a lawyer to mislead. Specifically, the ethical duty of confidentiality and the ethical duty of zealous advocacy are interpreted together to mean that lawyers must conceal some facts (‘confidentiality‘) while forcefully asserting others. This mis-coupling of these two key ethical duties has an inevitable tendency to produce a kind of partial-truth advocacy in which the lawyer knowingly distracts attention from the truth and fosters misconceptions …

Lawyers, Accountants, And The Battle To Own Professional Services, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Competition between lawyers and accountants is not a new concept. At various times during the past century, these two professions have clashed over the scope and definition of their respective services. Lawyers traditionally have relied upon a professional monopoly to provide “legal” services as a device to exclude nonlawyers from the practice of law. Supported by statutes in many jurisdictions making the unauthorized practice of law a criminal offense and ethics rules prohibiting lawyers from assisting in the unauthorized practice of law, lawyers have always been able to identify some inner sanctum of professional services that only they could handle. …

A Nightmare On Main Street (Part Mxl): Freddie Joins An Accounting Firm, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The subject of multidisciplinary practice (“MDP”) has intrigued me for well over a decade. The topic has led me into new areas of research, and sometimes into the cross hairs of colleagues in the legal profession. My views have not always represented the mainstream of thinking among lawyers, and that is reflected in the title of my talk today: “A Nightmare on Main Street (Part MXL): Freddie Joins an Accounting Firm.”

The Standard Of Care In Legal Malpractice: Do The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct Define It?, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article will review existing case law and commentary, and propose a new formula for application of rules of professional conduct in determining the standard of care to which attorneys should be held in malpractice cases. The authors will argue in favor of establishing a position that state rules of professional conduct create certain specific standards of lawyer behavior that constitute a minimum standard of conduct and a minimum standard of care for every individual attorney practicing in each jurisdiction.

Law Librarianship: Rebirth Or Buried Alive?, Jack Mcneill

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The AALL Committee on the Renaissance of Law Librarianship in the Information Age has just issued a report redefining law librarianship for the digital age. The full report is must reading for all interested in law librarianship because it accurately defines the skills needed to bring us into the future. Unfortunately, the report makes suggestions that may lead, not to renaissance, but to lower salaries.

Dances With Nonlawyers: A New Perspective On Law Firm Diversification, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, Professor Munneke continues the debate over ethical rules governing lawyers' professional affiliations with nonlawyers, arguing in favor of the adoption of uniform rules that regulate lawyers' conduct in the context of specific ethical issues, such as confidentiality and conflicrs of interest. In Professor Munneke's view, the retention of ethical rules that prohibit law firm diversification impedes the ability of lawyers to compete effectively in today's rapidly changing marketplace of professional services.

Professor Munneke moreover questions whether state bar association rules that prohibit law firm diversification are capable of withstanding judicial scrutiny under the federal antitrust laws and …

The Lawyer's Duty To Keep Clients Informed: Establishing A Standard Of Care In Professional Liability Actions, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article will explore the problem of the attorney's duty to provide clients with adequate information to make informed decisions. It will discuss situations in which such a duty is appropriate, and suggest that a cause of action for informed consent must be limited to those fact patterns where courts have established the right of the client to make the decision. The analysis rejects establishment of a broad right of the client to control all aspects of the representation. The Article will first review the history of the development of professional liability law with particular emphasis on the medical profession, …

The City University Of New York Law School: An Insider's Report, Vanessa Merton

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Law School of the City University of New York ("CUNY") is an experiment in whether it is possible for lawyers to integrate their lives. It is not, primarily, an institution with a somewhat novel, somewhat derivative, approach to legal education (although it is that). It is a place where lawyers try to bridge the gap between love and work, those so often dichotomized constituents of life. At CUNY we are trying simultaneously to equip students for survival in the current legal system and to burden them with a critical perspective on that system; to do and think, to practice …

What Your Opening Statement Should And Shouldn't Do: Some Surprising Advice, Steven H. Goldberg

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys would do well to consider how civil trial lawyers fashion their opening statements. As with any other part of the trial, the primary question to be answered in constructing an opening statement is: What do I want to accomplish? In civil cases the answer is almost always that each lawyer wants to persuade the jurors that the lawyer's version of the dispute is more likely to be correct than the opponent's. Opening statements in criminal trials, however, do not usually sound as if they were constructed with that goal in mind. Most fall into two …

Review Of Kanter On Hiring: A Lawyer's Guide To Lawyer Hiring, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Managing The Recruitment Process, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Serving The Public Interest: An Overstated Objective, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

It is clear that there are many occasions when legal services would be useful but are not being provided. The question is what the legal profession can do and should be fairly expected to do about this.