Law Commons^™

Latcrit Praxis @ Xx: Toward Equal Justice In Law, Education And Society, Tayyab Mahmud, Athena D. Mutua, Francisco Valdes

Journal Articles

This article marks the twentieth anniversary of Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory or the LatCrit organization, an association of diverse scholars committed to the production of knowledge from the perspective of Outsider or OutCrit jurisprudence. The article first reflects on the historical development of LatCrit’s substantive, methodological, and institutional commitments and practices. It argues that these traditions were shaped not only by its members’ goals and commitments but also by the politics of backlash present at its birth in the form of the “cultural wars,” and which have since morphed into perpetual “crises” grounded in neoliberal policies. With this …

When Bad Guys Are Wearing White Hats, Catherine A. Rogers

Journal Articles

Allegations of ethical misconduct by lawyers have all but completely overshadowed the substantive claims in the Chevron case. While both sides have been accused of flagrant wrongdoing, the charges against plaintiffs’ counsel appear to have captured more headlines and garnered more attention. The primary reason why the focus seems lopsided is that plaintiffs’ counsel were presumed to be the ones wearing white hats in this epic drama. This essay postulates that this seeming irony is not simply an example of personal ethical lapse, but in part tied to larger reasons why ethical violations are an occupational hazard for plaintiffs’ counsel …

Business Lawyers, Baseball Players, And The Hebrew Prophets, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

This article is a reflection on the ethics of practiving law for business, building on the career of Scott Boras, who acts as agent and lawyer for professional baseball players. The reflection wonders at the clout corporate lawyers have over their clients, mentioning, of course, some personal experiences (back before the invention of moveable type) from the author's two years in a large business-oriented law firm, as well as on Mr. Boras's significant influence in the baseball world. The object, finally, is ethical reflection on such things as the particular a lawyer has when she in in house rather than …

Roman Catholic Lawyers In The United States Of America, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

My agenda here is Roman Catholics in the American legal profession, from George Higgins's Jerry Kennedy to Judge Samuel Alito's joining the four other Catholics to make a majority on the federal Supreme Court. (I thought, as I said this in Washington, just before the Senate confirmation hearings in January 2006, that some in attendance may not have thought about this, and may have wanted to leap to their feet and phone their senators.)

Begin with ethnographic narrowing: When I talk about Catholic lawyers in the U.S., I mean to talk about descendants of the late immigrants—that is, people whose …

An American Tale, Geoffrey J. Bennett

Journal Articles

How much influence should the legal profession in England and Wales have over law degree courses? Geoffrey Bennett says to consider the U.S. experience before ditching the idea.

Forming An Agenda - Ethics And Legal Ethics, Robert E. Rodes

Journal Articles

The law profession is unique in the scope of the mandate it gives those within it to intervene in other people's affairs. As a result of this unique power of intervention, lawyers encounter a number of unique problems. This paper elucidates upon, and applies, the moral standards and intuitions to be used in approaching these problems. It argues that we should form our consciences in dialogue with our clients and that once they are formed we must follow them and limit our representation accordingly. If lawyer and client cannot agree on an agenda with which both are comfortable, the lawyer …

The Role Of The Law Review In The Tradition Of Judicial Scholarship, Kenneth F. Ripple

Journal Articles

This article explores one of the most important sources of judicial education, the law review. Part I first examines, by way of introduction, why continued intellectual growth is so important to the American jurist of today. It then sets forth the growth of the law review as an institution within the legal profession. Part II examines the various roles that law reviews play traditionally in the intellectual life of a judge and suggests, with respect to each, certain improvements in the judge-law review relationship designed both to enhance the effectiveness of the law review as an intellectual companion and to …

The French Legal Profession: A Prisoner Of Its Glorious Past?, Tang Thi Thanh Trai Le

Journal Articles

In 1978 a French television poll queried 982 viewers as to their images of the French lawyer (avocat). Of those polled, less than five percent held a positive view of the avocat. Eighteen percent of the 940 persons who expressed a negative view of the avocat simply conveyed this impression in general terms, but the remainder were more precise. Forty-eight percent of the respondents felt that the avocat was a "money sucker"; fourteen percent saw him as a man without conscience; and another fourteen percent believed that he acted with impunity within his bar. Four percent considered the bar to …

Character And Community: Rispetto As A Virtue In The Tradition Of Italian-American Lawyers, Thomas L. Shaffer, Mary M. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Our project is to contemplate a discrete piece of applied ethics in the American legal profession, a piece of what one might call Italian-American legal ethics. We propose to describe a moral value for which we will use the Italian word rispetto. Our understanding of rispetto is that it is a virtue, a good habit, through which the person learns, practices, teaches, and remembers his place within the family. We will argue here that the practice of this virtue will allow a modern lawyer to be in and of his or her civic and professional community without loss of dignity …

On Being A Professional Elder, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

The Professional Elder gives their wisdom to the young in the hopes that the wisdom will enable them to do better than the elders had done. This concept is exemplified through literature and films. However, the Professional Elder—elders in the profession who serve as moral teachers to the young—has diminished over time. This Article seeks to explain how the role of the professional elder has changed over time and the problems with the modern gentlemen’s ethic. He proposes that professional elders can return to serving as authoritative moral teachers through liberal learning and moral craftmanship.

The Legal Ethics Of The Two Kingdoms, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

The question I propose to address while I am with you is this: Is there a special morality for professional life? In terms of convention and argot, the answer to that question would appear to be: Yes, there is a separate morality for the professional lives of lawyers and judges. We do not follow the same morals in public and professional life as we follow in personal life.

Professional Independence And The Associate In A Law Firm: A French Case Study, Tang Thi Thanh Trai Le

Journal Articles

In June 1977, as a result of a case brought before the Tribunal de la Seine, a "mini-revolution" erupted in French legal circles. A young woman associate of a law firm was discharged at mid-month and paid half (F. 1250) her monthly salary. Mme X considered her dismissal improper and filed a complaint with the Bdtonnier (President) of the Paris Bar. After a hearing, the Conseil de l'Ordre (Executive Committee of the Bar) advised the firm to pay Mme X an additional F. 1250 in settlement. Not satisfied, Mine X took her case to the Tribunal de la Seine requesting …

The Practice Of Law As Moral Discourse, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

The beginning and end of a lawyer's professional life is talking with a client about what is to be done. I My claim here is that this is a moral conversation. I will suggest three ethical orientations which seem to govern the conversation, and then weigh the adequacy of each of the three orientations.