Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

What Do You Do When You Meet A "Walking Violation Of The Sixth Amendment" If You're Trying To Put That Lawyer's Client In Jail?, Vanessa Merton

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

For the purpose of this article, the relevance of my experience as a criminal defense attorney is this: if ever one might expect to find a prosecutor inclined to err on the side of fairness of process and protecting the rights of defendants, it ought to be me. Also, for more than twenty years, I have been something of a professional ethicist--as research fellow, teacher, staff member of an ethics center, chair and/or member of several institutional review boards, pro bono trial counsel to a disciplinary committee, ethics consultant, and expert witness--and, therefore, one might think, especially susceptible to the …

Litigators’ Ethics, Michael E. Tigar

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ensuring Able Representation For Publicly-Funded Criminal Defendants: Lessons From England, Peter W. Tague

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

While there are skilled private defense lawyers who enthusiastically represent indigent criminal defendants, too often defense lawyers whose income depends upon appointments provide deplorable representation. The problem is well known and pervasive. In addition to the blizzard of claims on appeal of ineffective representation, defenders' efforts have been savaged by judges and by fellow lawyers. These nagging problems persist: to induce private lawyers to represent their clients effectively by eliciting the defendant's story and managing their relationship in a way that at least does not displease the defendant; investigating his and the prosecution's positions; pressing the prosecution for discovery, for …

Law, Ethics, And The Good Samaritan: Should There Be A Duty To Rescue?, Kathleen M. Ridolfi

Faculty Publications

The interdependence of law and morality, the circular influences of one on the other, puts us in a position to fear what we want the law to do. We embrace a legal system that promotes morality, that makes better citizens of us, but we worry that the law will cross an elusive line and infringe on individual rights. For this reason we are careful, and should remain so, in limiting enforcement of laws to reflect only those values that emerge from the overall agreement of the community where they will be enforced.

In this paper, I have focused primarily on …

Religion And The Public Defender, Sadiq Reza

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay will argue that the public defender, or any other attorney appointed by the court to defend adults or juveniles charged with criminal offenses, should not undertake, or fail to undertake, any action to the legal detriment of a client on the basis of a conflict the attorney perceives between religious and professional imperatives, except in the rare case of imminent death or serious bodily harm to another. This argument rests on the following four premises: (1) the public defender occupies a unique position in our legal system, and options that may be available to lawyers who serve private …

Representing Defendants On Charges Of Economic Crime: Unethical When Done For A Fee, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Leak And The Craft: A Hard Line Proposal To Stop Unaccountable Disclosures Of Law Enforcement Information, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

The critics of Kenneth W. Starr accused him, in the five-plus years that he served as the multi-tasked Independent Counsel, of many failings, mistakes, and improprieties. One of the most prevalent charges was one that has significance to lawyers and resonates with the general public's sense of bad behavior by prosecutors: the allegation that Starr and/or members of his staff "leaked" information. This general accusation was, of course, imprecise. It also might have been overbroad. Prosecutorial "leaks" include such plain illegalities as disclosing grand jury information to the media or other unauthorized persons, and also the much less regulated practice …

Ex Post Facto Payments In Legally-Aided Criminal Cases In The Old Bailey, Peter W. Tague

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A much more pervasive scheme for overseeing the reasonableness of fees charged by legal professionals exists in England than in the United States. In England, for example, with or without a specific agreement over the fee, the client can challenge the solicitor's charges, and the court or the Law Society will assess their reasonableness.' Similarly, as part of assigning costs to the losing party, the reasonableness of the winning solicitor's claim for fees is evaluated. The lay client can even dispute the reasonableness of the barrister's fee after the fact.

In the United States, by contrast, lawyers hammer out agreements …

Representing Indigents In Serious Criminal Cases In England's Crown Court: The Advocates' Performance And Incentives, Peter W. Tague

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

While indigent defendants charged with serious criminal offenses can be represented by lawyers in the United States and by barristers and solicitors in England and Wales. Gauging the quality of that help is an important but elusive inquiry. This article has two purposes: to map how the indigent criminal defendant charged with very serious offenses is represented in England's Crown Court, and to examine whether economic incentives can induce the defendant's representatives to perform as expected.

While barristers profess to be skilled advocates, and while many lawyers have likewise extolled the barrister's advocacy, testing the point is extremely difficult. Apart …

Private Bar Monitors Public Defense - Oversight Committee Sets Standards For Indigent Defense Providers, Adele Bernhard

Articles & Chapters

The oversight committee drafted standards and guidelines with the primary goal of creating a yardstick for defense services organizations against which to measure performance and the hope that a practical set of standards serve multiple purposes, including: educating a skeptical public about what it takes to provide quality defense services; promoting an understanding of why adequate funding is necessary (to engender public support for more spending); and providing notice to the organizations themselves of what is expected of a publicly funded defense office.

Promoting The Intermediate Benefits Of Strict Notary Regulation, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 819 (1998), Nancy Perkins Spyke

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mental Culpability And Prosecutorial Misconduct, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article argues that a prosecutor's intent is always relevant to the courts' analysis of misconduct, and that the courts should always consider a prosecutor's intent in determining whether a rule was violated and whether the verdict was prejudiced. Part II of this Article examines the use of the objective test to analyze a prosecutor's trial conduct. Part II offers several reasons courts give for avoiding inquiry into a prosecutor's mental culpability, analyzes those reasons, and concludes that although the application of an objective test is sufficient to correct misconduct in some instances, it does not foreclose application of a …

Independent, Professional Judgment: The Essence Of Freedom, Bennett H. Brummer

St. Thomas Law Review

This Article will address the concept of professionalism from a criminal defense attorney's perspective and, more specifically, from the perspective of a public defender. The public defender mission is based on our ideals of freedom and equal justice under law. I have spent twenty-five years as a participant in, and observer of, our judicial system. Whether in government or professional circles, public defenders are often outsiders. We are often treated as the illegitimate children at the family reunion. It is from that perspective that I hope to be of some service to you.

Taking The Cop Out Of Copping A Plea: Eradicating Police Prosecution Of Criminal Cases, Andrew Horwitz

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Slashing And Burning Prisoners' Rights: Congress And The Supreme Court In Dialogue, Susan Herman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

United States V. Mcveigh: Defending The Most Hated Man In America, Stephen Jones, Jennifer Gideon

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prosecutorial Misconduct In Closing Argument In Arkansas Criminal Trials, J. Thomas Sullivan

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Executing Rapists: A Reluctant Essay On The Ethics Of Legal Scholarship, Michael Mello

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Lynching Ethics: Toward A Theory Of Racialized Defenses, Anthony V. Alfieri

Michigan Law Review

So much depends upon a rope in Mobile, Alabama. To hang Michael Donald, Henry Hays and James "Tiger" Knowles tied up "a piece of nylon rope about twenty feet long, yellow nylon." They borrowed the rope from Frank Cox, Hays's brother-in-law. Cox "went out in the back" of his mother's "boatshed, or something like that, maybe it was in the lodge." He "got a rope," climbed into the front seat of Hays's Buick Wildcat, and handed it to Knowles sitting in the back seat. So much depends upon a noose. Knowles "made a hangman's noose out of the rope," thirteen …

This Is Who Will Die When Doctors Are Allowed To Kill Their Patients, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 95 (1997), Michael Mcgonnigal

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Interference With Effective Advocacy By The Defense, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A fundamental premise of the American criminal justice system is defense counsel's zealous professional advocacy. Representation of a criminal defendant to be effective must be vigorous. In administering a trial, judges have a duty to ensure a fair and orderly proceeding. On occasion, however, judges overstep the line and impede defense counsel's advocacy functions unfairly. This article describes some of the ways that trial judges may violate legal and ethical standards by improperly interfering with defense counsel's courtroom functions.

Death Penalty: A Philosophical And Theological Perspective, 30 J. Marshall L. Rev. 463 (1997), Walter Berns, Nancy Bothne, William Bowers, Richard Dieter, Richard Land, James Lund, Austin Sarat

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ethics, Professionalism, And Meaningful Work, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Much of the anxiety and dissatisfaction associated with legal ethics arises from the categorical quality of the bar's dominant norms. These norms take the form of relatively inflexible rules insensitive to all but a few of the circumstances of the cases they govern. Hence they often require the lawyer to take actions that contribute to injustice or to refrain from actions that would avert injustice.

For example, many lawyers believe that a criminal defender is obliged to impeach a truthful complaining witness even though the only immediate purpose of this tactic is to encourage the trier to draw a mistaken …

Third Party Liability Or The False Claims Act: It Is Time For Consultants To Pay The Price For Their Bad Advice, 29 J. Marshall L. Rev. 923 (1996), Neal A. Cooper

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Should Regulate The Ethics Of Federal Prosecutors?, Rory K. Little

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Evidence: Facing The Hardest Issues, Oregon Law Institute, Paula A. Barran, Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Christopher B. Mueller

Oregon Law Institute, 1995

Course Materials from the November 17, 1995 Program in Portland

Policing Federal Prosecutors: Do Too Many Regulators Produce Too Little Enforcement, Bruce A. Green

St. Thomas Law Review

This Article focuses on how standards of prosecutorial conduct are enforced. As will be discussed, the process for sanctioning wrongful conduct of federal prosecutors is structurally inadequate. Federal prosecutors are subject to discipline by as many as four different authorities. Yet, each of the available disciplinary mechanisms is itself deficient. Furthermore, the diffusion of responsibility among different mechanisms compounds the problem.

Prosecutorial Misconduct In Presenting Evidence: "Backdooring" Hearsay, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Rules of evidence are designed to bring about just and informed decisions. One of these rules, the hearsay rule, is designed to ensure that juries receive reliable evidence, and that out-of-court statements ordinarily are inadmissible. Prosecutors are well aware of these evidentiary restrictions, but occasionally seek to circumvent them. The author describes methods used by some prosecutors to manipulate the hearsay rule and thereby distort the truth-finding process of the trial.

New Insights On Waiver And The Inadvertent Disclosure Of Privileged Materials: Attorney Responsibility As The Governing Precept, Audrey Rogers

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article suggests that fostering the development of attorney responsibility should be the central goal in addressing the issues raised by the inadvertent disclosure. Deciding the waiver issue by concentrating on attorney responsibility will help prevent inadvertent disclosures (and resultant waivers) by impressing upon the attorney the need to take care to avoid them. When disclosures inadvertently occur, the amount of precautions the attorney took (albeit unsuccessfully) should determine whether the privilege is waived. Placing the onus of precautions against inadvertent disclosure on the attorney is not only beneficial to the client, but also aids the profession, and the overall …