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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Moral Responsibility Of The Corporate Lawyer, Judith A. Mcmorrow, Luke M. Scheuer Dec 2009

The Moral Responsibility Of The Corporate Lawyer, Judith A. Mcmorrow, Luke M. Scheuer

Judith A. McMorrow

Lawyers traditionally claim that they are not morally accountable for the goals or activities of their clients that are within the bounds of the law. This essay explores this concept of non-accountability in the context of corporate transactional representation. We argue that corporate lawyers, whose practice is forward looking, undertaken on behalf of corporate clients who have legally impaired ability to engage in independent moral reasoning, and who function in a world of relatively minimal legal oversight (i.e. whose work is furthest from the model of the adversary system) cannot persuasively claim that they are not morally responsible for the …


The Public-Private Dichotomy In Morality And Law, Larry D. Barnett Dec 2009

The Public-Private Dichotomy In Morality And Law, Larry D. Barnett

Larry D Barnett

The article advances the thesis that the doctrines and concepts of law are attributable to the properties of society and to the forces molding these properties. The thesis, after being illustrated with the federal Investment Advisers Act, is assessed quantitatively using data from the General Social Survey. The Survey interviews a national sample of adults in U.S. households, and in 1991, it ascertained whether interviewees classified morality as a private matter or as a public issue. The social values of interviewees on the public-private nature of morality were the dependent variable in a study that assumed (i) an activity is …