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Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Law

Shadow Lawyering: Nonlawyer Practice Within Law Firms, Paul R. Tremblay Nov 2011

Shadow Lawyering: Nonlawyer Practice Within Law Firms, Paul R. Tremblay

Paul R. Tremblay

Lawyers commonly associate with nonlawyers to assist in their performance of lawyering tasks. A lawyer cannot know with confidence, though, whether the delegation of some tasks to a nonlawyer colleague might result in her assisting in the unauthorized practice of law, because the state of the law and the commentary about nonlawyer practice is so confused and incoherent. Some respected authority within the profession tells the lawyer that she may only delegate preparatory matters and must prohibit the nonlawyer from discussing legal matters with clients, or negotiating on behalf of clients. Other authority suggests that the lawyer may delegate a …


Zacharias’S Prophecy: The Federalization Of Legal Ethics Through Legislative, Court, And Agency Regulation, Daniel R. Coquillette, Judith A. Mcmorrow Oct 2011

Zacharias’S Prophecy: The Federalization Of Legal Ethics Through Legislative, Court, And Agency Regulation, Daniel R. Coquillette, Judith A. Mcmorrow

Judith A. McMorrow

In his 1994 seminal article on Federalizing Legal Ethics, Prof. Fred Zacharias examined the need for a national and uniform code of ethics for attorneys. Prof. Zacharias was correct that there has been increasing pressure to federalize legal ethics, but that process is occurring not through articulation of national norms but rather through decentralized contextualization of attorney conduct norms. Federal agencies that direct securities practice, immigration, tax, patent, labor and many other areas of federal practice are increasingly supplementing state regulations to specifically regulate the attorneys who appear before their agencies. Targeted substantive federal law and treaty obligations also increasingly …


Professional Responsibility In An Uncertain Profession: Legal Ethics In China, Judith A. Mcmorrow Oct 2011

Professional Responsibility In An Uncertain Profession: Legal Ethics In China, Judith A. Mcmorrow

Judith A. McMorrow

The rapidly expanding Chinese legal profession provides an extraordinary opportunity for the U.S. legal profession to test U.S. assumptions about legal ethics. This essay examines challenges facing Chinese legal education and the Chinese legal profession as it develops norms of legal ethics. This essay examines this process from the law school and law student’s perspective about legal ethics, and then briefly explores the effort to create norms of attorney conduct from a top-down perspective. Both a bottom-up and top-down view show the tremendous challenges facing the emerging Chinese legal culture in building a coherent model of lawyering that can serve …


The Story Of Mr. G.: Reflections Upon The Questionability Competent Client, Mark Spiegel Oct 2011

The Story Of Mr. G.: Reflections Upon The Questionability Competent Client, Mark Spiegel

Mark Spiegel

No abstract provided.


Zacharias’S Prophecy: The Federalization Of Legal Ethics Through Legislative, Court, And Agency Regulation, Daniel R. Coquillette, Judith A. Mcmorrow Oct 2011

Zacharias’S Prophecy: The Federalization Of Legal Ethics Through Legislative, Court, And Agency Regulation, Daniel R. Coquillette, Judith A. Mcmorrow

Daniel R. Coquillette

In his 1994 seminal article on Federalizing Legal Ethics, Prof. Fred Zacharias examined the need for a national and uniform code of ethics for attorneys. Prof. Zacharias was correct that there has been increasing pressure to federalize legal ethics, but that process is occurring not through articulation of national norms but rather through decentralized contextualization of attorney conduct norms. Federal agencies that direct securities practice, immigration, tax, patent, labor and many other areas of federal practice are increasingly supplementing state regulations to specifically regulate the attorneys who appear before their agencies. Targeted substantive federal law and treaty obligations also increasingly …


Professionalism: The Deep Theory, Daniel R. Coquillette Oct 2011

Professionalism: The Deep Theory, Daniel R. Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

Can our personal ethics and our professional ethics be in opposition? Our professional identity as lawyers is at the center of our personal morality. The legal profession is in crisis because we have lost sight of the deep theory of professionalism. This article focuses on our ultimate motivation for obeying rules, concentrating on three common categories: goal-based, rights-based, and duty-based theories. By examining these theories, the article argues that lawyers must turn away from the modern trend of goal instrumentalism and refocus legal practice on its humanistic roots.


Taking The Ethical Duty To Self Seriously: An Essay In Memory Of Fred Zacharias, Samuel J. Levine Oct 2011

Taking The Ethical Duty To Self Seriously: An Essay In Memory Of Fred Zacharias, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

No abstract provided.


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 …


Exceptions, Lawrence Raful May 2011

Exceptions, Lawrence Raful

Lawrence Raful

No abstract provided.


Taking Ethical Discretion Seriously: Ethical Deliberation As Ethical Obligation, Samuel J. Levine Feb 2011

Taking Ethical Discretion Seriously: Ethical Deliberation As Ethical Obligation, Samuel J. Levine

Samuel J. Levine

This Article builds on and responds to the work of a number of leading ethics scholars who have offered alternatives to the prevailing model of legal ethics. Specifically, the Article proposes a "Deliberative Model," which posits that the lawyer's professional responsibility carries with it a duty on the individual lawyer to exercise discretion through consideration of the relevant ethical issues. Thus, the Article takes seriously the principle of ethical discretion, respecting the role of individual ethical decisionmaking but requiring that such decisionmaking be carried out through a justifiable process of ethical deliberation.


Plea Bargaining, Discovery, And The Intractable Problem Of Impeachment Disclosures, R. Michael Cassidy Dec 2010

Plea Bargaining, Discovery, And The Intractable Problem Of Impeachment Disclosures, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

In a criminal justice system where guilty pleas are the norm and trials the rare exception, the issue of how much discovery a defendant is entitled to before allocution has immense significance. This article examines the scope of a prosecutor’s obligation to disclose impeachment information before a guilty plea. This question has polarized the criminal bar and bedeviled the academic community since the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in United States v. Ruiz (2002). A critical feature of the debate has been the enduring schism between a prosecutor’s legal and ethical obligations – a gulf that the American Bar Association recently …


Fred Zacharias And A Lawyer's Attempt To Be Guided By Justice: Flying With Harry Potter And Understanding How Lawyers Can Prosecute The People They Represent, Randy Lee Dec 2010

Fred Zacharias And A Lawyer's Attempt To Be Guided By Justice: Flying With Harry Potter And Understanding How Lawyers Can Prosecute The People They Represent, Randy Lee

Randy Lee

No abstract provided.