Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Conviction Integrity Units Revisited, Barry Scheck

Articles

“Conviction Integrity Unit” has become a brand name that has good public relations value for an elected official. But what does it really mean? Is it just a fashion accessory, a flashy but empty appellation intended to convey the idea that the office is extremely serious about correcting wrongful convictions and holding its own members accountable for errors or acts of misconduct, but really is not? Is conviction integrity nothing more than a passing fad, a nebulous slogan without real meaning that is good for propaganda purposes, but will not bring about any serious change in the way business is …

Benchslaps, Joseph P. Mastrosimone

Utah Law Review

The practice of judges issuing so-called benchslaps is growing both in popularity and concern. Such published decisions and orders seek to publicly shame lawyers for their alleged unethical or unprofessional lawyering. Legal blogs have picked up on this trend, celebrating and elevating benchslaps to become a part of legal popular culture. However, the practice of using embarrassing and belittling published decisions to punish or to deter unethical or professional conduct raises serious concerns that the issuing judge is violating his or her own ethical duties.

This Article criticizes the practice and concludes that it must end based on three arguments: …

The Unified Bar: Will A Closed Shop Serve The Lawyer And The Public, Harold Brown

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

American College Of Trial Lawyers Report And Recommendation On Disruption Of The Judicial Process

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Professionalism: Reappraising Occupational Licensure And Competition Policy, Sandeep Vaheesan, Frank A. Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Expectations In The Mirror: Lawyer Professionalism And The Errors Of Mandatory Aspirations, Keith W. Rizzardi

Florida State University Law Review

For years, Florida has been a leader in the professionalism movement, and state leaders have created new documents and standards to make professionalism enforceable. The rest of the nation can learn from Florida’s errors, because the Sunshine State has blurred the lines between professionalism and legal ethics. In fact, history shows that Florida is simply repeating the same mistakes that have been addressed time and time again as our system of legal ethics has evolved. At times, Florida’s professionalism concepts even contradict themselves. Indeed, from a jurisprudential perspective, even H.L.A. Hart and Lon Fuller—who otherwise disagreed over the morality of …

Incorporating Social Justice Into The Law School Curriculum With A Hybrid Doctrinal/Writing Course, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 221 (2017), Rosa Castello

UIC Law Review

Educating future lawyers is about more than just teaching them substantive law. We are preparing professionals who will go out into our world and shape and affect it in deep and impacting ways. They will make law, enforce law, determine policy, defend people, advocate, and influence lives and businesses. Therefore, any thorough law school education should teach social justice and encourage students to become more engaged in activism. One way to incorporate social justice into the law school curriculum is to offer specific courses focused on social justice. However, administrators may be concerned about demand for such classes or ability …

Who’S Gonna Take The Weight: Using Legal Storytelling To Ignite A New Generation Of Social Engineers, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 231 (2017), Camille Lamar Campbell

UIC Law Review

So I ask the rhetorical question: “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?” to mobilize law professors—the people responsible for shaping students’ professional identities—to use storytelling techniques to overcome the corrosive effects of stereotypes and implicit biases on controversial clients’ access to legal services and on the lawyer’s professional identity as a social engineer. This article precedes in two parts. Part II explores traditional client selection models and endorses a Houstonian approach to client selection, one that acknowledges the challenges of representing controversial clients within a framework that also acknowledges the social justice consequences of denying representation to controversial clients. Part III …

Beyond The ‘Resiliency’ And ‘Grit’ Narrative In Legal Education: Race, Class, And Gender Considerations, 50 J. Marshall L. Rev. 271 (2017), Christian Sundquist

UIC Law Review

The narrative on modifying legal education to produce entrepreneurial students with resiliency and “grit,” however, often has a troubling class and race-regarding dimension. This Essay argues that the “grit” reform initiative has the potential to rationalize future disparities, by shifting the focus from responding to the continuing impact of poverty and identity bias on student outcomes to bolstering individual character traits and resiliency. Our country has a long and troubling history of adopting such post-oppression “distancing moves” in order to discount the effect that systemic bias has on inequality, including disparate legal outcomes, by focusing solely on personal responsibility and …

“Who Is Really Deciding Your Case?” A Path To Restore Judicial Independence And Impartiality After Citizens United, 51 J. Marshall L. Rev. 167 (2017), Anthony Morelli

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rock, Paper Scissors…Loot!, Michael A. Mogill

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Professional Liability, Debran L. O'Neil, Joshua D. Kipp, Thomas S. Conner

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Diversity, Compliance, Ethics & In-House Counsel, Steven A. Ramirez

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Can Practicing Mindfulness Improve Lawyer Decision-Making, Ethics, And Leadership?, Peter H. Huang

Publications

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction, defines mindfulness as paying attention in a curious, deliberate, kind, and non-judgmental way to life as it unfolds each moment. Psychologist Ellen Langer defines mindfulness as a flexible state of mind actively engaging in the present, noticing new things, and being sensitive to context. Langer differentiates mindfulness from mindlessness, which she defines as acting based upon past behavior instead of the present and being stuck in a fixed, solitary perspective, oblivious to alternative multiple viewpoints. Something called mindfulness is currently very fashionable and has been so for some time now in American …

Social Capital Of Directors And Corporate Governance: A Social Network Analysis, Zihan Niu, Christopher Chen

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

This Article examines how a director’s social capital might affect his or her behavior, the board’s performance, and corporate governance, as well as the potential normative implications of the director’s social network. We argue that the quality of board performance could be improved where the social network closure within the board is high and there are many non-redundant contacts beyond the board. Network closure can improve trust and collaboration within a board, while external contacts may benefit a company with more diverse sources of information. Moreover, different network positioning leads to the inequality of social capital for directors. With more …

Envisioning 100% Access To Justice In Colorado, Daniel M. Taubman, Melissa Hart

Publications

No abstract provided.

Mediation Ethics: A Camp Courthouse Colloquy, United States Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit, Robert Katzmann, Kathleen M. Scanlon, John Feerick

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

On January 18, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held its first Court Appeals Mediation Program "Courthouse Colloquy." The subject of the colloquy was mediation and ethics. What follows is a transcript of the discussions.

Dirty Laundry: Judicial Appointments In Canada, Richard Devlin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The issue of the appointment of judges is not a freestanding problem. Rather, as Adam Dodek and I have argued, it is part of a larger public policy puzzle, the challenge of designing an appropriate regulatory regime for judges. Any description, analysis, assessment or critique of judicial appointments processes necessarily requires the development and deployment of some conceptual framework. Sometimes such a framework is implicit or taken for granted. However, in our opinion, it is better if we can make that framework—that paradigm—explicit because we can then more clearly understand the nature of the evaluative process in which we are …

Accountability In Corporate Governance In China And The Impact Of Guanxi As A Double-Edged Sword, Andrew Keay, Jingchen Zhao

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Accountability is an essential aspect of corporate governance and it has been argued that the “wenze” system of accountability in China comes very close to the accountability systems developed in Anglo-American corporate governance. This Article examines the role of cultural factors, namely guanxi and its derivatives, in corporate governance in China to determine what effect, if any, these cultural factors have on the operation and development of the “wenze” system in large listed companies. The Article specifically considers whether the cultural elements affect accountability, and if so, how and to what extent. It also explores whether these cultural factors are …

"G" Is More Than "Pc" For Georgia: Why Prospective Adoption Of Aba Model Rule 8.4(G) Is A Viable Measure To Combat Discrimination And Harassment, Katie M. Wroten

Georgia Law Review

In August 2016, the American Bar Association
passed Model Rule 8.4(g) into its Model Rules of
Professional Conduct. The rule declares it misconduct
for a lawyer to harass or discriminate based on race,
sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age,
sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or
socioeconomic status. The scope of the rule extends to
lawyers' conduct outside of the courtroom, including
conduct related to the practice of law. The rule aims to
eliminate bias in the profession and justice system.
The Supreme Court of Georgia has yet to adopt any
version of Model Rule 8.4(g) in its comment …

Attorney-Client Confidentiality: A Critical Analysis, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Attorney-client confidentiality doctrine is distinguished by its expansiveness and its rigid or categorical form. This brief essay argues that the rationales for these features are unpersuasive. It compares the “strong confidentiality” of current doctrine to a hypothetical narrower and more flexible “moderate confidentiality” and concludes that moderate confidentiality is more plausible. It is unlikely that current doctrine yields benefits that justify its costs.

Addressing Cultural Bias In The Legal Profession, Debra Chopp

Articles

Over the past two decades, there has been an outpouring of scholarship that explores the problem of implicit bias. Through this work, commentators have taken pains to define the phenomenon and to describe the ways in which it contributes to misunderstanding, discrimination, inequality, and more. This article addresses the role of implicit cultural bias in the delivery of legal services. Lawyers routinely represent clients with backgrounds and experiences that are vastly different from their own, and the fact of these differences can impede understanding, communication, and, ultimately, effective representation. While other professions, such as medicine and social work, have adopted …

Designing And Improving A System Of Proactive Management-Based Regulation To Help Lawyers And Protect The Public, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

Increasingly, lawyers and decision-makers are recognizing the limitations and consequences of current approaches to attorney regulation. Inspired by developments in other countries, regulators in the United States and Canada have started the process of exploring innovative approaches, including proactive management-based regulation. The term, proactive-management regulation (PMBR), was first used by Professor Ted Schneyer to refer to a regulatory approach designed to promote ethical law practice by assisting lawyers with practice management.

The seed for PMBR was first planted in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). It grew out of the legislation that allowed limited liability and non-lawyer ownership …

Compensation Of Out-Of-State Attorney

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

See No Fiduciary, Hear No Fiduciary: A Lawyer’S Knowledge Within Aiding And Abetting Fiduciary Breach Claims, Brinkley Rowe

Fordham Law Review

Fiduciary liability for attorney conduct generally extends only to direct clients of legal services. Over the last few decades, however, the lawyer’s role has expanded. Following this trend, fiduciary liability also has expanded to allow third-party claims in certain limited circumstances. One example is the attorney aiding and abetting a client’s fiduciary breach claim. One of the key requirements for liability under this claim is the attorney’s knowledge of his client’s fiduciary relationship with the third party alleging the breach. Within those jurisdictions that have accepted the claim, there are two approaches to the knowledge element. The first is the …

Responding To Judicial And Lawyer Misconduct: Analyzing A Survey Of State Trial Court Judges, Peter M. Koelling

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

While reported cases or incidents may give us insight into the interpretation of Rule 2.15 of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, they do not give us a sense of how often judges undertake the obligation to act under the rule. The Judicial Division of the American Bar Association developed a survey to explore the interpretation and the implementation of Rule 2.15 of the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, and to determine how and in what manner state trial court judges responded to ethical violations by lawyers and other judges. The survey looked back over a ten-year period and was …

A Legal And Ethical Puzzle: Defense Counsel As Quasi Witness, Elizabeth Slater

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. criminal justice system is built on the concept of an adversarial trial. The defense and prosecution present competing narratives to a neutral audience that judges whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. In this context, defense counsel is expected to be a zealous advocate for the defendant, providing the most effective representation possible in light of the evidence presented by the government. However, there are occasions outside of trial where defense counsel’s traditional role changes and she is asked to disclose, not to the jury, but to the court, personal opinions and knowledge about …

Compliance, Technology, And Modern Finance, Tom C.W. Lin

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

An important transformation is happening in the financial industry. The rise of new technology and compliance has dramatically altered many of the key functions and functionaries of modern finance. Artificial intelligence, algorithmic programs, and supercomputers, instead of human actors, now constitute the core of many financial operations. Compliance officers have become just as critical to financial institutions as traders, bankers, and analysts. Finance as we knew it has changed and continues to change. This symposium Article offers a studied commentary on these unfolding changes, the crosscutting developments in compliance, technology, and modern finance. It examines the concurrent and intersecting ascents …

The Impact Of Technological Developments On The Rules Of Attorney Ethics Regarding Attorney–Client Privilege, Confidentiality, And Social Media, Pamela A. Bresnahan, Lucian T. Pera

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This article focuses on the development of the law of ethics and technology. Emphasis is placed on how technological developments have affected the rules and means by which lawyers practice law and certain ethical pitfalls that have developed hand-in-hand with technological advancements. Topics examined include: (1) the ways by which electronic communication has increased the potential for the attorney–client privilege to be waived and the resulting impact on the present-day practice of law; (2) the effect of social media on lawyers’ ethical obligations, including counseling clients regarding the client’s use of social media and the lawyer’s own use of social …

Am I A “Licensed Liar”?: An Exploration Into The Ethic Of Honesty In Lawyering . . . And A Reply Of “No!” To The Stranger In The La Fiesta Lounge, Josiah M. Daniel Iii

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

After hearing for the first time the lawyer-disparaging phrase, “licensed liar,” the author investigated its significance. This article presents the question of those two words’ meaning and explains how the author reached the conclusion that, as applied to attorneys, the phrase is an unmerited epithet. The phrase is known and utilized in nonlegal texts in fields such as fiction, poetry, literary criticism, and journalism, but the two words are absent from legal texts. The author’s discovery of the phrase in various criticisms of lawyers in other publications illuminates and confirms that the phrase constitutes the pejorative allegation that an attorney …