Law Commons^™

Focusing Your Firm On Ethics, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Why 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Matters 50 Years Later, Randy Lee

Randy Lee

No abstract provided.

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Fall 2009

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Betraying Truth: The Abuse Of Journalistic Ethics In Middle East Reporting, Kenneth Lasson

Kenneth Lasson

BETRAYING TRUTH: THE ABUSE OF JOURNALISTIC ETHICS IN MIDDLE EAST REPORTING By Kenneth Lasson Abstract In a world at once increasingly chaotic and historically interconnected, the news media have come to play unprecedented roles both in the virtually instantaneous recording of fast-moving events and in influencing the occurrence and evolution of those events themselves. The media, of course, are not beyond reproach. Freedom of the press does not mean immunity from criticism. Reputable journalists abide by standards which, though largely self-imposed, are presumed to be honestly applied. When these principles are abrogated, violators should be taken to task. Nowhere has …

Langston Hughes: The Ethics Of Melancholy Citizenship, Robert L. Tsai

Working Papers

As a body of work, the poetry of Langston Hughes presents a vision of how members of a political community ought to comport themselves, particularly when politics yield few tangible solutions to their problems. Confronted with human degradation and bitter disappointment, the best course of action may be to abide by the ethics of melancholy citizenship. A mournful disposition is associated with four democratic virtues: candor, pensiveness, fortitude, and self-abnegation. Together, these four characteristics lead us away from democratic heartbreak and toward political renewal. Hughes’s war-themed poems offer a richly layered example of melancholy ethics in action. They reveal how …

Corporate Ethics, Agency, And The Theory Of The Firm, Robert J. Rhee

Robert Rhee

This conference paper suggests that the problem of corporate ethics cannot be reduced to the autonomous person. Although the greatest influence on action and choice is one's moral constitution, it does not follow that the agent's behavior is the same within or without the firm. Ethics is a function of corporate form. The theory of agency cannot dismiss the firm as a fiction or metaphorical shorthand since that which does not exist should not be able to cause ethical breakdowns in corporate action. Thus, the theory of the firm, which emphasizes profit and wealth maximization, should incorporate a richer, more …

Genetic Enhancements And Expectations, Kelly Sorensen

Philosophy and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Some argue that genetic enhancements and environmental enhancements are not importantly different: environmental enhancements such as private schools and chess lessons are simply the old-school way to have a designer baby. I argue that there is an important distinction between the two practices—a distinction that makes state restrictions on genetic enhancements more justifiable than state restrictions on environmental enhancements. The difference is that parents have no settled expectations about genetic enhancements.

Private Practice And Cause Lawyering: A Practical And Ethical Guide, Bettina E. Brownstein

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unethical Protection? Model Rule 1.8(H) And Plan Releases Of Professional Liability, George Kuney

Scholarly Works

The American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct address the propriety of attorneys obtaining releases from their clients of either past claims or future claims against themselves. Under the applicable Model Rule, both types of releases require the involvement, or the opportunity for involvement, of independent counsel to review and advise the client on the issue.

Releases in chapter 11 plans typically cover insiders, members of the creditors’ committee, and the debtor’s and committee’s counsel. Few courts or disciplinary bodies of the various state bars have addressed the ethical issues that arise when counsel insert into a plan of …

Iconography And The Polite Art Of Saying Nice Doggie, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

The public perception of attorneys cannot be divorced from their deeply ingrained iconography.

Judging Jena's Da: The Prosecutor And Racial Esteem, Andrew Taslitz

Andrew E. Taslitz

In the Jena 6 case, six African-American high school students were arrested for assault charges allegedly arising out of a series of confrontations between black and white students stemming from a black student's sitting under the "white tree" on school grounds. The Jena prosecutor successfully arranged for one of the Jena 6 to be tried as an adult, where he was convicted and exposed to the potential of a very harsh sentence. The prosecutor did not, however, proceed, or not proceed as harshly, against several white students who were purportedly involved in violence or threats of violence against black students. …

Judging Jena's Da: The Prosecutor And Racial Esteem, Andrew E. Taslitz

School of Law Faculty Publications

In the Jena 6 case, six African-American high school students were arrested for assault charges allegedly arising out of a series of confrontations between black and white students stemming from a black student's sitting under the "white tree" on school grounds. The Jena prosecutor successfully arranged for one of the Jena 6 to be tried as an adult, where he was convicted and exposed to the potential of a very harsh sentence. The prosecutor did not, however, proceed, or not proceed as harshly, against several white students who were purportedly involved in violence or threats of violence against black students. …

New Mandates And Imperatives In The Revised Aca Code Of Ethics, Harriet L. Glosoff, David M. Kaplan, Michael M. Kocet, R. Rocco Cottone, Judith G. Miranti, Christine Moll, John W. Bloom, Tammy B. Bringaze, Barbara Herlihy, Courtland C. Lee, Vilia M. Tarvydas

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

The first major revision of the ACA Code of Ethics in a decade occurred in late 2005, with the updated edition containing important new mandates and imperatives. This article provides interviews with members of the Ethics Revision Task Force that flesh out seminal changes in the revised ACA Code of Ethics in the areas of confidentiality, romantic and sexual interactions, dual relationships, end-of-life care for terminally ill clients, cultural sensitivity, diagnosis, interventions, practice termination, technology, and deceased clients.

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Spring 2009

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Unforgiving: Reflections On The Resistance To Forgiveness After Atrocity, Thomas Brudholm, Valérie Rosoux

Law and Contemporary Problems

Brudholm and Rosoux question the ethics of having religious and political leaders call on individual victims to forgive wrongdoing as an aid to group-conflict resolution. Even though a group might strongly desire political stability and peace, these goals should not be obtained at the expense of the needs of the victim. They argue that even when the group strongly desires reconciliation, reconciliation does not necessarily require forgiveness. They also consider several actual examples of resistance with particular concentration on the reflections of two genocide survivors, namely Jean Amery and Esther Mujawayo.

Awareness And Ethics In Dispute Resolution And Law: Why Mindfulness Tends To Foster Ethical Behavior, Leonard L. Riskin

UF Law Faculty Publications

This paper is an extended version of a luncheon presentation given at the Symposium, Ethics in the Expanding World of ADR: Considerations, Conundrums, and Conflicts, sponsored by South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 2, 2007.

Service To The Nation: A Living Legal Value For Justice Lawyers In Canada, Josh Wilner

Dalhousie Law Journal

Lawyers working within a living government require a living ethics, an approach to ethics that accounts for their day-to-day professional lives within the Department of Justice Canada. There are different archetypes of Justice lawyers, and thus a living ethics is also an ethics of place, one which is sensitive to the government institutions within and for which lawyers work and the functions they accomplish. The focus of this paper, which employs a virtue ethics methodology, is primarily civil litigators. Distinguishing between values (enduring beliefs that influence action) and ethics (the application of values in practice), the paper proposes "service to …

Enhancing The Fighting Force: Medical Research On American Soldiers, Catherine L. Annas, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

During President Barack Obama's first primetime press conference, reporters asked primarily about the state of the economy and terrorism. Wedged between questions on these two vital issues was a query from the Washington Post's Michael Fletcher:

Question: What is your reaction to Alex Rodriguez's admission that he used steroids as a member of the Texas Rangers?

Obama: You know, I think it's depressing news.... And if you're a fan of Major League Baseball, I think it - it tarnishes an entire era, to some degree. And it's unfortunate, because I think there are a lot of ballplayers who played it …

March 28, 2009: The Dalai Lama And Secular Ethics, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Dalai Lama and Secular Ethics“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Placebo Ethics, Usha Rodrigues, Mike Stegemoller

Usha Rodrigues

While there are innumerable theories on the best remedy for the current financial crisis, there is agreement on one point, at least: increased transparency is good. We look at a provision from the last round of financial regulation, the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), which imposed disclosure requirements tailored to prevent some of the kinds of abuses that led to the downfall of Enron. In response to Enron’s self-dealing transactions, Section 406 of SOX required a public company to disclose its code of ethics and to disclose immediately any waivers from that code the company grants to its top …

Beyond Cardboard Clients In Legal Ethics, Katherine R. Kruse

Katherine R Kruse

Historically, legal ethics has been preoccupied with the moral conflicts that arise when the pursuit of a client’s interests requires a lawyer to harm innocent third parties, undermine the truth-seeking norms of the legal system, or both. But is over-zealous loyalty to clients really the biggest problem in legal professionalism? This Article argues that it is not. Rather, the obsession in legal ethics with the problems of zealous partisanship dates back to the preference of early legal ethicists—many of whom were philosophers—to focus on conflicts between professional role morality and ordinary morality. To generate these conflicts, legal ethicists had to …

Pervasive Location Tracking: A Privacy Protection Perspective, Harlan Onsrud

Harlan J Onsrud

A laudable goal of ubiquitous computing is to enhance our day-to-day living by invisibly embedding sensors and computing platforms in our stationary and mobile surroundings. Sensors being developed and deployed within distributed computing networks include those able to see (ranging from automated detection of light to identification of specific individuals and objects), hear (detection of specific sounds to transcribing language), smell (detection of specific gases), feel (detection of specific motions, temperature, humidity, etc) and communicate. Sensors in and on our bodies will communicate through our phones, cars, offices, homes, transportation infrastructure, and with objects along our travel paths. Numerous visions …

"To Be Or Not To Be" Responsible: The Effectiveness Of Media's Codes Of Ethics As Checks On Biased Reporting, Blake D. Morant

Blake D Morant

“To Be or Not to Be” Responsible: The Effectiveness of the Media’s Codes of Ethics as Checks on Biased Reporting Blake D. Morant Dean and Professor of Law Wake Forest University School of Law “Media bias” has become a clichéd expression. Despite the phrase’s cavalier use by some to minimize the industry’s influence, biased reporting remains an omnipresent cloud on media’s legitimacy as the fourth estate. Polemic issues related to race, gender or traditionally disadvantaged groups, particularly when covered sensationally by news media, exposes problems related to bias and misinformation. This Article deconstructs the problem of media bias through a …

Deep Links: Does Knowledge Of The Law Change Managers’ Perceptions Of The Role Of Law And Ethics In Business?, Gavin Clarkson, Constance E. Bagley

Gavin Clarkson

Can knowledge of the law lead to a higher likelihood of ethical and legally compliant behavior? Our preliminary research suggests that it can. We surveyed 112 MBA students to determine the perception of law as well as to determine whether a course in law had any impact on their perceptions. Our findings suggest that knowledge of the law can prompt managers to become more legally compliant and more socially responsible. Deeper probing with the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique revealed three deep metaphors of the role of law in business: system, moral balance, and force. The results of both the quantitative …

Judicial Confusion And Inconsistency In Handling Juror Misconduct: A New Proposal, Kristen D. Clardy

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Model Rules: Aristotle, Lincoln, And The Lawyer's Aspirational Drive To An Ethical Practice, Billie J. Ellis, William T. Ellis

Billie J. Ellis Jr.

Many scholars have criticized the Model Rules for omitting the aspirational ethic of earlier ABA codes, leaving only the minimum, mandatory regulations for conduct. Our article BEYOND THE MODEL RULES: ARISTOTLE, LINCOLN, AND THE LAWYER’S ASPIRATIONAL DRIVE TO AN ETHICAL PRACTICE, offers a new approach to dealing with this "aspirational void" created by the Model Rules, yet it does not engage in the useful yet typical debates regarding this problem, including the need for greater emphasis on ethics in law schools, reform of the ABA, reform of the Model Rules, or the need for a so called professional movement. Rather, …

Sophistry, Situational Ethics, And The Taxation Of The Carried Interest, Darryll K. Jones

Journal Publications

This Article is, in essence, a strident expression of indignation about what a majority of tax scholars and, indeed, legislators consider a glaring yet persistent inequity in the tax code. In short, sometimes extraordinarily well-paid fund managers receive compensation taxed at capital gains rates. All other, usually very much lower-compensated, service providers are taxed at ordinary rates. The result is clearly regressive and yet, as of late, even some respected and knowledgeable scholars-though still in the minority-have unabashedly set forth sophisticated-sounding justifications. Objections based on unfairness, real, or even merely perceived, are difficult to express without a tone of indignation, …

Multi-Institutional Healthcare Ethics Committees: The Procedurally Fair Internal Dispute Resolution Mechanism, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Campbell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Allocating Influence, Heidi R. Anderson

Heidi R Anderson

As more lawmaking is achieved at the administrative agency level, the issue of whether and how to apply the rules of legal ethics to lawyers that lobby agency decision makers grows more important; however, at this time, the ethics of influencing is a murky area in need of clarification. Any attempt to clarify the ethics of influencing should start with a core principle underlying modern legal ethics — the avoidance and/or resolution of conflicts of interest. Accordingly, this Article addresses a conflict of interest — the “allocating influence conflict”— that, to date, has escaped proper identification or analysis. In its …

International Harmonization Of Regulation Of Nanomedicine, Gary E. Marchant, Douglas J. Sylvester, Kenneth W. Abbott, Tara Lynn Danforth

Gary E. Marchant

Nanomedicine holds enormous promise for the improved prevention, detection and treatment of disease. Yet, at the same time, countervailing concerns about the potential safety risks of nanotechnologies generally, and nanomedical products specifically, threaten to derail or at least delay the introduction and commercial viability of many nanomedicine applications. All around the globe, national governments are struggling with balancing these competing benefits and risks of nanotechnology in the medical and other sectors. It is becoming increasingly clear that reasonable, effective and predictable regulatory structures will be critical to the successful implementation of nanotechnology. The question examined in this paper is whether …