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Full-Text Articles in Law
Plagiarism In Lawyers' Advocacy: Imposing Discipline For Conduct Prejudicial To The Administration Of Justice, Douglas E. Abrams
Plagiarism In Lawyers' Advocacy: Imposing Discipline For Conduct Prejudicial To The Administration Of Justice, Douglas E. Abrams
Faculty Publications
In a recent high-profile prosecution, the federal district court criticized defense counsel for filing a post-trial brief that copied passages from previously published material without attribution. The court followed other recent decisions that, since about 2000, have chastised lawyers for briefs marked by plagiarism. Some lawyers had copied passages from earlier judicial opinions that rest in the public domain, and some lawyers (as in the recent prosecution) had copied passages from private sources that are subject to the copyright laws. In either event, courts have labeled lawyers’ plagiarism “reprehensible,” “intolerable,” “completely unacceptable,” and “unprofessional.”
The Problems Of Plagiarism As An Ethics Offense, Peter A. Joy, Kevin C. Mcmunigal
The Problems Of Plagiarism As An Ethics Offense, Peter A. Joy, Kevin C. Mcmunigal
Faculty Publications
This column questions the practices of labeling attorney copying, even without acknowledgement, as plagiarism, and treating it as a per se ethics violation. Instead, the column argues that analysis of copying in the litigation context should focus directly on the quality of the filing at issue and the competence and diligence of the lawyer who prepared it.