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Introductory Note: Symposium On Lawyering And Personal Values – Responding To The Problems Of Ethical Schizophrenia, Samuel J. Levine May 2011

Introductory Note: Symposium On Lawyering And Personal Values – Responding To The Problems Of Ethical Schizophrenia, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

In recent years, legal practitioners and scholars alike have identified a growing crisis in the legal profession. Increasingly, lawyers feel dissatisfied with the roles they are expected to play and the conduct demanded of them. In particular, many lawyers see a widening gap between their personal values and those employed in legal practice. In response to the dichotomy between personal and professional values, some lawyers attempt to develop a corresponding dichotomy in their personalities, separating the “professional self” from the “personal self.” Such a response, however, may lead to a kind of “ethical schizophrenia,” a condition in which an individual …


Teaching Jewish Law In American Law Schools: An Emerging Development In Law And Religion, Samuel J. Levine May 2011

Teaching Jewish Law In American Law Schools: An Emerging Development In Law And Religion, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

In recent years, religion has gained an increasing prominence in both the legal profession and the academy. Through the emergence of the "religious lawyering movement," lawyers and legal scholars have demonstrated the potential relevance of religion to many aspects of lawyering. Likewise, legal scholars have incorporated religious thought into their work through books, law journals and classroom teaching relating to various areas of law and religion. In this Essay, Levine discusses one particular aspect of these efforts, namely, the place of Jewish law in the American law school curriculum. Specifically, he outlines briefly three possible models for a course in …


Rethinking The Supreme Court’S Hands-Off Approach To Questions Of Religious Practice And Belief, Samuel J. Levine May 2011

Rethinking The Supreme Court’S Hands-Off Approach To Questions Of Religious Practice And Belief, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

In recent years, the United States Supreme Court has shown an increasing unwillingness to engage in deciding matters that relate to the interpretation of religious practice and belief. While the Justices have articulated valid concerns concerning these cases, courts should not allow these concerns to deter them from making decisions vital to the effective adjudication of Free Exercise and Establishment Clause cases. In fact, it appears that as a result of the Court's increasing refusal to consider carefully the religious questions central to many cases, the Court often tends to group together religious claims and practices, regardless of the relative …


Law, Ethics, And Religion In The Public Square: Principles Of Restraint And Withdrawal, Samuel J. Levine May 2011

Law, Ethics, And Religion In The Public Square: Principles Of Restraint And Withdrawal, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

In recent years, scholars have begun to recognize and discuss the profound questions that arise in attempting to determine the place of religion in the law and the legal profession. This discussion has emerged on at least two separate yet related levels. On one level, scholars have debated the place of religion in various segments of the public sphere, including law and politics. On a second level, lawyers have expressed the aim to place their professional values and obligations in the context of their overriding religious obligations. This article explores, from both an ethical and jurisprudential perspective, the question of …


Taking Prosecutorial Ethics Seriously: A Consideration Of The Prosecutor's Ethical Obligation To Seek Justice In A Comparative Analytical Framework, Samuel J. Levine May 2011

Taking Prosecutorial Ethics Seriously: A Consideration Of The Prosecutor's Ethical Obligation To Seek Justice In A Comparative Analytical Framework, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

This article examines the complex nature of the prosecutor's broad obligation to seek justice through a consideration of the similarly broad directive in Jewish law requiring that "in all [of] your ways acknowledge [God]." While many have critiqued the broad directives governing a prosecutor's ethical duties, through this comparative analytical framework it can be seen that the prosecutor's broad ethical directive to seek justice serves as a workable and appropriate standard for prosecutorial ethics. In many ways, a prosecutor faces an ethical obligation unlike other attorneys. Ethical obligations require that a prosecutor forgo conduct that would increase the likelihood of …


Further Reflections On The Role Of Religion In Lawyering And In Life, Samuel J. Levine Feb 2011

Further Reflections On The Role Of Religion In Lawyering And In Life, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

No abstract provided.


Further Reflections On The Role Of Religion In Lawyering And In Life, Samuel J. Levine Feb 2011

Further Reflections On The Role Of Religion In Lawyering And In Life, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

No abstract provided.


Reflections On The Practice Of Law As A Religious Calling, From A Perspective Of Jewish Law And Ethics, Samuel J. Levine Feb 2011

Reflections On The Practice Of Law As A Religious Calling, From A Perspective Of Jewish Law And Ethics, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

This Essay is based on introductory remarks Levine delivered at the inaugural conference of the Pepperdine Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics, "Can the Ordinary Practice of Law be a Religious Calling?," held on February 6-7, 2004 at Pepperdine University School of Law. In thinking about the practice of law as a religious calling, Levine argues that we should first consider the broader issue of the general relevance of religion to various areas of life, including work. From a perspective of Jewish law and ethics, moral conduct comprises an imperative at home and at the workplace no less than at …