Law Commons^™

Absolute Immunity: A License To Rape Justice At Will, Prentice L. White

Prentice L White

ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY: A LICENSE TO RAPE JUSTICE AT WILL BY PRENTICE L. WHITE We are all acquainted with the phrase the sanctity of marriage. We understand that the vows made by a couple at the wedding ceremony is sacrosanct, and if those vows are not taken seriously, or abused in any way, then the offending spouse will be penalized and evicted from the marital relationship. Likewise, justice should be handled in the same manner and with the same intensity. America prides itself on having the best legal system in the world. It broadcasts to all the surrounding nations that its …

Anti-Trust Me: The Justification For The Prohibition On Charging Unreasonably Low Attorneys’ Fees, Tim E. Hogan

Tim E Hogan

The Wisconsin Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit lawyers from charging unreasonably high attorneys fees. The rules do not prohibit lawyers from charging unreasonably low attorneys fees. There is a good reason for this: low attorneys’ fees provide clients with access to justice that they may be otherwise unable to afford. However, what happens when attorneys’ fees become so low that their sole purpose is to drive out the competition? Prior to 1979, the Wisconsin state bar, like many other state bars, published a minimum fee schedule that set forth specific fees below which lawyers were prohibited from charging. The justification …

Character Degradation By Depression In The Career Environment And Preventive Measurements For Michigan Lawyers, Taras Zenyuk

Taras Zenyuk

No abstract provided.

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, And The Ethics Of Casual Conversation, Michael Hatfield

Michael Hatfield

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, and the Ethics of Casual Conversation Tax lawyers routinely navigate politically-charged waters when a tax topic is dropped into conversation. Increasingly, however, tax lawyers are confronted with comments that undermine the authority of the federal tax system itself. These comments may take several forms, including arguments that the income tax is unconstitutional. Regardless of form, this rhetoric differs from legitimate criticisms of the tax system because it encourages non-compliance as either a moral right or a political good . In the current environment, the tax bar should take up the call to be public educators with …

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, And The Ethics Of Casual Conversation, Michael Hatfield

Michael Hatfield

Tax Lawyers, Tax Defiance, and the Ethics of Casual Conversation ABSTRACT Tax lawyers routinely navigate politically-charged waters when a tax topic is dropped into conversation. Increasingly, however, tax lawyers are confronted with comments that undermine the authority of the federal tax system itself. These comments may take several forms, including arguments that the income tax is unconstitutional. Regardless of form, this rhetoric differs from legitimate criticisms of the tax system because it encourages non-compliance as either a moral right or a political good. In the current environment, the tax bar should take up the call to be public educators with …

The Image Of The Attorney: The Character Of Attorney Randolph Mason In Three Books By Melville Davisson Post, Patricia J. Brown

Patricia J Brown

Summary In 1896 a young attorney practicing in West Virginia, Melville Davisson Post, wrote a book entitled The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason. His stated mission in this book was to invent a new type of story to compete with the currently popular genre of the detective story. His stories would show how a criminal, even if detected, could escape punishment by using loopholes and schemes available in the law. The criminal, not always able to find these loopholes himself, would be guided by a legal misanthrope, an attorney named Randolph Mason. Post wrote two books using this motif and …

A First Amendment Theory For Protecting Attorney Speech, Margaret C. Tarkington

Margaret C Tarkington

In June 2010, the United States Supreme Court held that Congress could constitutionally prohibit attorneys from providing legal assistance and advice regarding lawful nonviolent conduct to groups that the Secretary of State has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The plaintiffs wished to assist two FTOs invoke international human rights law, petition the United Nations and United States Congress, and peacefully resolve their disputes. The Supreme Court held that the statute clearly prohibited plaintiffs’ proposed activities, but did not violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment because the attorneys could still engage in “independent advocacy” of any message …

Is The Attorney-Client Privilege A Privilege Of The Rich? Federal Hmis Database Reporting And Homeless Client Confidentiality, Jennifer Hammitt

Jennifer Hammitt

The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a new database reporting system mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to track the usage of HUD services by homeless people. The HMIS requires collecting identifiable personal information about the individuals who use the services and entering that information into a database that enables information sharing and referral services. This comment arose out of an investigation into the HMIS database and confidentiality issues that I did while working at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., as part of the Homeless Legal Assistance Project in the summer of 2009. As this …

Religious Rules: The Judeo-Christian Nature Of The Aba Model Rules And What It Means For The Legal Profession, Sarah Montana Hart

Sarah Montana Hart

This article argues that the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct are not only biased in favor of Judeo-Christian biblical values, but actually are religious rules based in the Bible. The religious nature of the Model Rules affects lawyers in several different ways. There must be awareness of and a conscious choice about the nature and effects that these rules have on law students, bar applicants, and practicing lawyers.

An Ethical Rabbit Hole: Model Rule 4.4, Intentional Interference With Former Employee Non-Disclosure Agreements And The Threat Of Disqualification, Maura I. Strassberg

Maura I Strassberg

ABSTRACT The Model Rule 4.4 prohibition on the use of methods of obtaining evidence that violate the rights of third parties can be read to prohibit the informal questioning of a former employee with a non-disclosure agreement to advance a proposed or pending lawsuit, as this may constitute the tort of intentional interference with contract. The use of non-disclosure agreements is proliferating and, although actual tort liability in this context has hardly ever been litigated, it is easy to strategically use this tort to allege an ethical violation that can be the basis of a disqualification motion. The threat of …

Engaging Law Students In Leadership, Faith Rivers James

Faith R Rivers James

The new challenge of legal education is preparing civic-minded lawyers to assume leadership roles in their communities, law firms, the legal profession, and in the public square. Defined as the process of influencing and persuading others to achieve a common purpose, leadership describes the lawyers’ task with individual and organizational clients; considered as a characteristic of people in positions of power, lawyers often assume the mantle of leading organizations. Whether defined as process or position, lawyering involves leadership in the private sector or in the public realm. This article considers the progressive structure of a comprehensive law & leadership program, …

Educating Lawyers To Meditate? From Exercises To Epistemology To Ethics: The Contemplative Practice In Law Movement As Legal Education Reform, Rhonda V. Magee

Rhonda V Magee

This Article argues that the contemplative practice in law movement assists in answering the call for reform of legal education and the development of professional identity highlighted by the Carnegie Foundation in its "Education Lawyers" analysis and others, presenting the outlines of the pathway to effective reform so far missing from the mainstream critique. The author argues that the contemplative practices movement does much more than merely specify skills missing from traditional legal education that are crucial to effective and sustainable lawyering, including the capacity for self-reflection, emotional intelligence, and moral discernment. Going further, it suggests a new approach to …

Large Law Firm Lateral Hire Conflicts Checking, James M. Fischer

James M. Fischer

Lateral lawyer movement between private law firms has become an accepted practice. More than one-half of the lawyers who became partners at AM LAW 100 firms began their professional careers at another firm. Yet, lateral lawyers carry potential risks to their new firms in the form of conflicts of interests that may prevent the firm from representing one of its existing clients. To identify and quantify this risk, firms require that laterals disclose information that enables the firm to conflicts check the lateral.

While conflicts checking of laterals is accepted practice by firms, it raises a question whether laterals in …

Book Review Of Daniel Markovits' A Modern Legal Ethics, Dorothy M. Hong

Dorothy M Hong

Modern Legal Ethics demands lawyerly virtue of fidelity to limit liability and avoid cost by lawyer's occupying a role with skill and expertise for each client for each case each time embracing cosmopolitanism and realist approach to lawyering to describe understanding of human condition that would tend to favor client without portraying an understandable scenario that would seem appropriate for his audience betraying nastalgia.

(Unfair) Advantage: Damocles’ Sword And The Coercive Use Of Immigration Status In A Civil Society, David P. Weber

David P Weber

This article argues that the coercive use of immigration status or “status coercion” in civil proceedings and negotiations is fundamentally unethical and potentially illegal. For attorneys attempting to take advantage of unauthorized immigration status, such conduct very likely violates an attorney's ethical obligations under the Rules of Professional Responsibility and wrongfully takes advantage of an overly vulnerable population. For the judiciary, the article argues for a more proactive approach in maintaining the perception of fairness and justice in civil proceedings for all parties, regardless of immigration status. Additionally, for both legal and lay persons, status coercion may constitute the crime …

Unfounded Allegations That John Yoo Violated His Ethical Obligations As A Lawyer: A Critical Analysis Of The Torture Memo, Carrie L. Flores

Carrie L. Flores

In 2003, John C. Yoo, then Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, signed a memorandum issued to the U.S. Department of Defense. This memorandum provided a legal opinion regarding the standards governing military interrogations of alien unlawful combatants detained outside of the U.S. It is now commonly referred to as the “Torture Memo.”

The Torture Memo contained several highly controversial legal conclusions, including a definition of torture, and although it was classified information when it was originally issued, the Memo was later declassified and made available to the public in 2008. …

(Unfair) Advantage: Damocles’ Sword And The Coercive Use Of Immigration Status In A Civil Society, David P. Weber

David P Weber

This article argues that the coercive use of immigration status or “status coercion” in civil proceedings and negotiations is fundamentally unethical and potentially illegal. For attorneys attempting to take advantage of unauthorized immigration status, such conduct very likely violates an attorney's ethical obligations under the Rules of Professional Responsibility and wrongfully takes advantage of an overly vulnerable population. For the judiciary, the article argues for a more proactive approach in maintaining the perception of fairness and justice in civil proceedings for all parties, regardless of immigration status. Additionally, for both legal and lay persons, status coercion may constitute the crime …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’S Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law's Theory Of Client Empowerment For Elderly Clients With Diminished Capacity, Lauren E. Palmer

Lauren E Palmer

Legal Professionalism: Utilizing Poverty Law’s Theory of Client Empowerment for Elderly Clients with Diminished Capacity

Author: Lauren E. Palmer (J.D. Candidate 2011, Albany Law School)

Research shows that the elderly community in the United States is growing fast. In fact, people are living longer and requiring more diversified services as they age. As many are well aware, one problem that comes with advanced aging is the diminishment of cognitive ability.

This article will address several ethical questions that arise when attorneys attempt to balance their own interests with the interests of clients with diminished capacity. By using the theory of …

A Few Inconvenient Truths About Michael Crichton's State Of Fear: Lawyers, Causes And Science, Lea B. Vaughn

Lea B Vaughn

Abstract: Although Crichton has lost the battle regarding global warming, his characterization of lawyers and law practice remains unchallenged. This article challenges his damning portrait of lawyers as know-nothing, self aggrandizing manipulators of various social and environmental causes. A more nuanced examination of “cause lawyering” reveals that lawyers are not part of a vast conspiracy to grab power through the causes for which many work; in fact, the rules of professional responsibility as well as the structure of “cause lawyering” limit their power and influence. Regardless, lawyers are nonetheless vital, and generally principled, participants in the debates and causes that …

Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach To Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, And Achieve Desired Outcomes, Cassandra Hill

Cassandra L. Hill

This Article examines an underused teaching strategy—collaborative peer editing—through the lens of student learning outcomes and assessment measures. The American Bar Association (“ABA”) recently proposed sweeping changes to law school accreditation standards that focus less on input measures, such as the school’s facility, faculty size and budget, and more on output measures, such as the school’s bar passage and employment rates. This shift will require law schools—and law professors—to articulate student learning goals and assess their achievement. To do so, law professors must find efficient techniques to assess students’ performance. Peer editing presents such an opportunity.

This Article shows how …

How The Global Crime Syndicates Fuel Planet Destruction, Global Alliance

Global Alliance

since 1945 more environmental planet destruction has been fuelled and financed with ever more leveraged debt than in the previous 60 million years - it's applied terrorism against the global life support system under the protection racket of a corrupt law profession

Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege In The Digital Age: War On Two Fronts?, Tom Spahn

Tom Spahn

Is the corporate attorney-client privilege under attack? Many attorneys and commentators contend not only that yes, it is, but also that this battle rages on two fronts. First, they argue that courts are engaging in a misguided erosion of the privilege when faced with expansive electronic discovery. And second, they insist that policies exercised by executive agencies are chilling compliance conversations within corporations by creating a coercive “culture of privilege waiver.”

2006 and 2007 represented landmark years for the corporate attorney-client privilege. In those years, the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana used methodology in In re Vioxx …

I Fought The Law And The Law Lost: The Case For Congressional Oversight Over Systemic Doj Discovery Abuse In Criminal Cases, Christopher R. Smith

Christopher R Smith

ABSTRACT I Fought the Law and the Law Lost: The Case for Congressional Oversight Over Systemic DOJ Discovery Abuse in Criminal Cases This article addresses the need for congressional oversight over systemic DOJ criminal discovery abuse. The first section of the article outlines a sample group of cases across multiple federal districts, which represent the most highly publicized systemic DOJ criminal discovery abuse cases over the last two years. This first section of the article also examines the statistical record of DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (“OPR”) in terms of investigating federal prosecutorial abuse in criminal matters and enforcement of …