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Articles 181 - 210 of 240

Full-Text Articles in Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility

Friends Of The Court? The Ethics Of Amicus Brief Writing In First Amendment Litigation, Allison Lucas Jan 1999

Friends Of The Court? The Ethics Of Amicus Brief Writing In First Amendment Litigation, Allison Lucas

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article explores the ethics of writing amicus briefs as they relate to defamation and privacy issues by focusing on two specific cases, Rice v. Paladin and Khawar v. Globe, International. It begins with a history of amicus curaie briefs, followed by a discussion of the two cases. In Paladin, a family sued a publishing company arguing that a book it published aided and abetted a murder. In Khawar, a photo was wrongly placed in a book and was subsequently printed in a newspaper. In both cases, amicus briefs were submitted on the part of the defendants from large media …

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Disciplinary Restrictions On Multidisciplinary Practice: Their Derivation, Their Development, And Some Implications For The Core Values Debate The Future Of The Profession: A Symposium On Multidisciplinary Practice, Bruce A. Green Jan 1999

Disciplinary Restrictions On Multidisciplinary Practice: Their Derivation, Their Development, And Some Implications For The Core Values Debate The Future Of The Profession: A Symposium On Multidisciplinary Practice, Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Many of the legal profession's disciplinary rules are of venerable lineage. For example, the provisions of contemporary disciplinary codes concerning conflicts of interest derive from the 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics (Canons), which, in turn, can be traced back to late nineteenth century state ethics codes, to mid-nineteenth-century lectures and writings, 3 and to earlier common-law agency principles. Although lawyers to- day disagree about what the precise contours of the conflict rules should be, these rules embody basic principles of loyalty, competence and confidentiality that are fundamental, traditional, and universally supported by lawyers. These are defining principles for the practice …

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Law Day 2050: Post-Professinalism, Moral Leadership, And The Law-As-Business Paradigm Symposium, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1999

Law Day 2050: Post-Professinalism, Moral Leadership, And The Law-As-Business Paradigm Symposium, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

Inspired by Ted Schneyer's future history of professional discipline' and Bob Gordon's descrption of "the hazy aspirational world" of the "Law Day Sermon,' I offer a vision of the legal profession 'a next fifty years in the form of a Law Day speech from the year 2050. Looking back on developments in the first half of the twenty-first century, this piece explores the implications of the analysis proposed in my earlier article, The Professionalism Paradigm Shift: Why Discarding Professional Ideology Will Improve the Conduct and Reputation of the Bar. The speech presents a projection of the moral leadership the bar …

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Can A Religious Person Be A Big Firm Litigator? , Amelia J. Uelmen Jan 1999

Can A Religious Person Be A Big Firm Litigator? , Amelia J. Uelmen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Essay takes on the challenge of describing some of the ways in which values often defined as "personal" or "religious" can be integrated into the practice of law at a large firm. Part I describes some of the aspects of big firm practice that make it particularly difficult to integrate religious and personal values which may give meaning to one's work. Part II suggests that such meaning can be found through a religious vision of what it means to be a person, which includes a sense of obligation to serve the common good. Part III explores how this concept …

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Cautionary Tale From The Multidisciplinary Practice Debate: How The Traditionalists Lost Professionalism, A The Phyllis W. Beck Chair In Law Symposium: New Roles, No Rules - Redefining Lawyers' Work - Redefining Lawyers' Work: Multidisciplinary Practice, Russell G. Pearce, Amelia J. Uelmen: Jan 1999

Cautionary Tale From The Multidisciplinary Practice Debate: How The Traditionalists Lost Professionalism, A The Phyllis W. Beck Chair In Law Symposium: New Roles, No Rules - Redefining Lawyers' Work - Redefining Lawyers' Work: Multidisciplinary Practice, Russell G. Pearce, Amelia J. Uelmen:

Faculty Scholarship

The author presents a fictional conversation among Lawrence J. Fox, other noted legal scholars, and himself concerning the ethics and changes in the legal profession.

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Foreword, Steven Epstein, Eric B. Fields, Jack E. Pace Iii, Staci Rosche Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Foreword, Steven Epstein, Eric B. Fields, Jack E. Pace Iii, Staci Rosche

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article seeks to address issues of lawyering under Legal Services Corporation (LSC) restrictions . We organized the conference as part of Fordham's Advanced Seminar in Ethics and Public Interest Law. We comprised a student working group in the class who worked to organize the conference with the Legal Aid Society and the Stein Center for Ethics and Public Interest Law. The conference, held on May 30, 1997, brought together practitioners, academics, and law students to discuss the delivery of legal services under the federal restrictions. In the remarks that follow, participants address the issues germane to lawyering under the …

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Address: The Future Of Legal Services, Alexander D. Forger Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Address: The Future Of Legal Services, Alexander D. Forger

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This address focuses on what is the future of legal services? There will always be the ability to provide legal services for many of those in need. We are never going to reach all eligible clients or resolve all their problems. But it is essential to keep pressure on the federal government to play its essential role. How can it walk away from all of the mandates in our fundamental documents and leave it to charity to assume access to justice? There could be no more nobler cause with which to be associated, and no more dedicated and heroic figures …

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Constitutional Issues Panel, Matthew Diller Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Constitutional Issues Panel, Matthew Diller

Fordham Urban Law Journal

There have been three lawsuits brought that deal with these constitutional issues, two challenges to the Regulations and one opposition to a motion to withdraw, which was the VarshavskyI case that Valerie Bogart talked about. The decision in the Varshavsky case is outside. There is also a preliminary injunction decision from the case brought in Hawaii,2 of which Steve Shapiro is one of the counsel, and that decision is outside. And then, still pending is a decision on a preliminary injunction motion in a case called Velasquez,3 which was brought in the Eastern District of New York. Here to address …

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Ethics Issues Panel, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Ethics Issues Panel, Russell G. Pearce

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This panel focuses on the ethical issues relating to the restrictions, and speakers include Helaine Barnett, Emily Sack, Steve Ellmann and Stephen Gillers.

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Opening Remarks, John D. Feerick Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Opening Remarks, John D. Feerick

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Opening Remarks to "The Future of Legal Services: Legal and Ethical Implications of the LSC Restrictions"

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Address: Interpretations Of Lsc Restrictions, Matthew Diller, Alan W. Houseman Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Address: Interpretations Of Lsc Restrictions, Matthew Diller, Alan W. Houseman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The purpose of this talk is to set a framework for the discussions on the four panels. I will begin by discussing what has happened in the 104th Congress, describe what can and cannot be done under the restrictions imposed by that Congress, and then frame the context for the later discussions.

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Legislative Issues Panel, Steven Epstein Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Legislative Issues Panel, Steven Epstein

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Each speaker is going to deliver some opening remarks followed by an open discussion with the audience. The Legislative Panel includes Alexander Forger, Dwight Loines, Dennis Saffran and Alan Houseman.

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The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Implementation Issues Panel, Staci Rosche Jan 1998

The Future Of Legal Services: Legal And Ethical Implications Of The Lsc Restrictions - Implementation Issues Panel, Staci Rosche

Fordham Urban Law Journal

A distinguished panel including Shirley Traylor, Jill Boskey, Valerie Bogart and Lucy Billings will describe how they have been directly affected in implementing the restrictions that have been handed down and how they have made their lives a little bit harder.

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Informed Consent In Mediation: A Guiding Principle For Truly Educated Decisionmaking , Jacqueline Nolan-Haley Jan 1998

Informed Consent In Mediation: A Guiding Principle For Truly Educated Decisionmaking , Jacqueline Nolan-Haley

Faculty Scholarship

Informed consent has a central role to play in mediation. Without it, mediation's promises of autonomy and self-determination are empty. This Article has given the theoretical and policy justifications for a reform of mediation practice that honors the principle of informed consent. I have argued for a contextualized approach that takes into account mediation's location, the voluntariness of the parties' consent, and their representational status. This kind of analysis will lead to a more informed practice of mediation decisionmaking than exists currently and provide a perspective that can more prudently guide a mediator's conduct. The proposed approach promotes greater fairness …

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Lawyers, Clients, And Mediation , Jacqueline Nolan-Haley Jan 1997

Lawyers, Clients, And Mediation , Jacqueline Nolan-Haley

Faculty Scholarship

That the growth of mediation practice is changing the practice of law is obvious. The inability of many lawyers to understand the conceptual differences between adversarial lawyering and mediation practice strongly suggests the need to develop a theory of "good" representational mediation practice that takes into account competing client interests. On the one hand, lawyers must encourage client voice and participation. At the same time, however, the demands of professionalism require that lawyers guide their clients toward responsible decisionmaking. Representational lawyering in mediation may involve a number of distinct and traditional lawyering functions-- client counseling, negotiation, evaluation and advocacy. In …

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Conflicts Of Interest In Legal Representation: Should The Appearance Of Impropriety Rule Be Eliminated In New Jersey - Or Revived Everywhere Else , Bruce A. Green Jan 1997

Conflicts Of Interest In Legal Representation: Should The Appearance Of Impropriety Rule Be Eliminated In New Jersey - Or Revived Everywhere Else , Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Sixty-five years ago, an American Bar Association (ABA) committee interpreting the Canons of Professional Ethics (Canons) concluded that it would be professionally improper for a part-time prosecutor to agree to defend an individual in a civil action while simultaneously prosecuting him on felony charges. The committee acknowledged that the representation of conflicting interests is ordinarily proper with the respective clients' consent. But it said that client consent does not suffice in a case involving a public officer, who has a duty "to be and remain above all suspicion, even at personal financial sacrifice." It concluded that such "[a]n attorney should …

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Role Of Personal Values In Professional Decisionmaking, The , Bruce A. Green Jan 1997

Role Of Personal Values In Professional Decisionmaking, The , Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

The 1908 Canons of Professional Ethics directed a lawyer to "obey his own conscience."' Lawyers receive similar advice today. Writings on legal practice encourage lawyers to make professional decisions based on their moral values and religious beliefs, as expressed in the familiar injunction: to be charted by one's own "moral compass." Underlying this advice is an assumption about the professional norms - namely, that they accommodate, if not contemplate, lawyers' reliance on personal values. This assumption finds some support in the contemporary codes of lawyer conduct, which acknowledge a role for the lawyer's "conscience" or "moral judgment." Yet, it is …

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Less Is More: Teaching Legal Ethics In Context Symposium: 1997 W. M. Mikeck Foundation Forum On The Teaching Of Legal Ethics, Bruce A. Green Jan 1997

Less Is More: Teaching Legal Ethics In Context Symposium: 1997 W. M. Mikeck Foundation Forum On The Teaching Of Legal Ethics, Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

We who teach legal ethics employ many of the teacher's arts to win our students' appreciation for the course. We do not always succeed. As Deborah Rhode has observed, "[t]here are inherent problems and infinite ways to fail in teaching this subject." Yet, we continue to seek a method for teaching the course effectively. If nothing else, our efforts have led to the development of a substantial body of literature on teaching legal ethics to which this Article will contribute. Its focus is on what, rather than how, to teach. This Article asks: What should be the content of the …

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Attorney-Client Privilege, Ethical Rules, And The Impaired Criminal Defendant, The , James A. Cohen Jan 1997

Attorney-Client Privilege, Ethical Rules, And The Impaired Criminal Defendant, The , James A. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

Attorneys who represent possibly incompetent defendants charged with criminal conduct face difficult ethical issues, implicating professional duties of loyalty, zealous representation, and confidentiality-as an ethical question and as a matter of the law of evidence. The principles of agency underlying the attorney-client relationship are also implicated when the defendant's capacity is in doubt. In the ordinary criminal case, the client has at least implicitly authorized his lawyer's conduct. But if the defendant is impaired, the client may not have the mental capacity to authorize the attorney's actions. Defense counsel representing the possibly incompetent criminal defendant will often be the only …

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Union Lawyer's Obligations To Bargaining Unit Members: A Case Study Of The Interdependence Of Legal Ethics And Substantive Law, The Symposium: The Lawyer's Duties And Liabilities To Third Parties, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1996

Union Lawyer's Obligations To Bargaining Unit Members: A Case Study Of The Interdependence Of Legal Ethics And Substantive Law, The Symposium: The Lawyer's Duties And Liabilities To Third Parties, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

One of the largest groups of purported nonclients to whom lawyers might have obligations are members of bargaining units represented by unions. Despite the much publicized decline of labor unions, they have almost 16.4 million members. In addition, many workers are members of bargaining units represented by labor unions, but are not union members. The relationship of union lawyers to these millions of bargaining unit members, whether members of the union or not, is unclear. An examination of how this relationship influences and is influenced by labor law offers a fascinating case study of the synergy between the substantive law …

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Jewish Lawyer's Question, The Essay, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1996

Jewish Lawyer's Question, The Essay, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

Martin Buber describes the question of how to "affirm" our Jewish identity in the modem world as "the personal Jewish question, the root of all Jewish questions, the question we must discover within ourselves, clarify within ourselves, and decide within ourselves. This essay raises the "Jewish question" for lawyers. First, it explores some reasons why Jewish lawyers answer the question by separating their professional selves from their religious selves. Second, it observes that such an answer is contrary to the perspective-rooted in tradition but also common to the otherwise dissonant streams of Judaism today-that one's Judaism enters every moment of …

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To Save A Life: Why A Rabbi And A Jewish Lawyer Must Disclose A Client Confidence Symposium: Executing The Wrong Person: The Professionals' Ethical Dilemmas, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1995

To Save A Life: Why A Rabbi And A Jewish Lawyer Must Disclose A Client Confidence Symposium: Executing The Wrong Person: The Professionals' Ethical Dilemmas, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

As adopted by courts and legislatures, lawyer's ethical codes have the force of law. They require a lawyer to keep information confidential unless the lawyer knows the client will commit a future crime. Jewish tradition generally forbids the disclosure of confidential information as "a terrible invasion of another person's privacy."This interdiction, rooted in the Torah's prohibition on talebearing, applies even when the information disclosed is true. The great medieval commentator, Maimonides, observed that gossip "ruins the world.” He further reproached "the evil tongue of the slander-monger who speaks disparagingly of one's fellow, even if the truth is told." Accordingly, the …

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Whose Rules Of Professional Conduct Should Govern Lawyers In Federal Court And How Should The Rules Be Created , Bruce A. Green Jan 1995

Whose Rules Of Professional Conduct Should Govern Lawyers In Federal Court And How Should The Rules Be Created , Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

At present, the rules of professional conduct applied in federal judicial proceedings vary from district to district. In reaction to this problem, the Judicial Conference of the United States is studying the question of whether a uniform set of rules of professional conduct should apply in federal judicial proceedings and, if so, what the nature of the rules should be and how they should be developed. The principal proposals under consideration are the adoption of a uniform set of federal rules based on the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct or the adoption of a requirement that each …

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Professionalism Paradigm Shift: Why Discarding Professional Ideology Will Improve The Conduct And Reputation Of The Bar, The, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1995

Professionalism Paradigm Shift: Why Discarding Professional Ideology Will Improve The Conduct And Reputation Of The Bar, The, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

The Article explains how the Professionalism Paradigm distinguishes between self-interested businesspersons and altruistic professionals who place the public good above their own interests and those of their clients. The legal profession has used this Business-Profession dichotomy to obtain control of the delivery legal services, including a legislative monopoly on the practice of law. Today, the Professionalism Paradigm faces a crisis as leading lawyers, judges, and scholars complain that law has become a business and is no longer a profession. The Article “identifies this shift as a time for hope rather than as a cause for despair. Applying Thomas S. Kuhn's …

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The Big Black Man Syndrome: The Rodney King Trial And The Use Of Racial Stereotyes In The Courtroom, Lawrence Vogelman Jan 1993

The Big Black Man Syndrome: The Rodney King Trial And The Use Of Racial Stereotyes In The Courtroom, Lawrence Vogelman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Rodney King was portrayed as the prototypical "Big Black Man". Having recognized the existence of the Big Black Man Syndrome as a factor in the Rodney King Case, what are the moral and ethical implications of allowing defense counsel to so cleverly play upon the racial fears they evidently recognized? The issue is whether the use of racist arguments by defense counsel in a criminal trial is unethical. This essay explores the ethical consideration that come into play where a trial advocate is faced with a case where racism, homophobia, or ethnic prejudice is part of the courtroom dynamic.

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Financial Arrangements In Class Actions, And The Code Of Professional Responsibility, Daniel J. Capra, Thomas W. Jackson, John Koeltl Jan 1993

Financial Arrangements In Class Actions, And The Code Of Professional Responsibility, Daniel J. Capra, Thomas W. Jackson, John Koeltl

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The Rules of Professional Conduct impose various restrictions relating to attorney fees and the payment of litigation costs, which are designed to preserve the lawyer's role as a zealous but objective advocate. Class actions stand apart from other kinds of litigation in that they are designed to promote efficiency by their combining like claims into single actions, and individual justice by their vindicating claims that if taken individually might not be economically viable. In light of these special concerns, the courts have carved out several exceptions to ordinary attorney's fees, litigation expense, and disbursement rules that they routinely apply to …

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Report On The Debate Over Whether There Should Be An Exception To Confidentiality For Rectifying A Crime Or Fraud, Maria Helen Bainor, Nancy Batterman Jan 1993

Report On The Debate Over Whether There Should Be An Exception To Confidentiality For Rectifying A Crime Or Fraud, Maria Helen Bainor, Nancy Batterman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct fail to provide lawyers with adequate guidance for dealing with situations in which a client has used the lawyer's services to perpetuate a fraud. He Model Rules do not discuss confidentiality in cases of client-committed fraud at all, and the provided exceptions to the confidentiality requirement do little to help attorney's deal with past frauds committed by a client with the unwitting aid of the attorney. The Model Rules should be amended to authorize disclosure of client confidences to rectify a crime or fraud when the lawyer's services have been used in the commission …

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The Need For Fair Trials Does Not Justify A Disciplinary Rule That Broadly Restricts An Attorney's Speech, Thomas Gibson, Diana Parker Jan 1993

The Need For Fair Trials Does Not Justify A Disciplinary Rule That Broadly Restricts An Attorney's Speech, Thomas Gibson, Diana Parker

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In "Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada," the Supreme Court held a Nevada law prohibiting attorneys from making extra-judicial statements that could reasonably be expected to lead to prejudiced proceedings unconstitutionally vague. The safe harbor provision of New York's restriction on extra-judicial attorney speech seems to suffer from a similar deficiency, and must therefore be amended. To cure vagueness concerns, an amended rule should pay heed to the timing of prohibited public statements by attorneys, limiting speech restrictions to the month preceding the start of the trial. The amended rule should also include a clear and present danger standard to …

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Ethical Issues Arising When A Lawyer Leaves A Firm: Restrictions On Practice, Daniel J. Capra, Richard Friedman, Arthur Handler, Diana Parker Jan 1993

Ethical Issues Arising When A Lawyer Leaves A Firm: Restrictions On Practice, Daniel J. Capra, Richard Friedman, Arthur Handler, Diana Parker

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Restriction on covenants not to compete have been a long-time feature of legal practice. Rules prohibiting law firms from restricting lawyers' ability to practice or imposing penalties on lawyers that leave a firm attempt to balance the law firm's interest in survival in a competitive market with the countervailing interests of attorney mobility, and protecting clients' choice of counsel. Restrictions on covenants not to compete should be vigorously enforced, and the exception that allows for the forfeiture of retirement benefits by attorneys that choose to leave a firm should be narrowly applied to only those funds to which the departing …

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State Of New York Temporary State Commission On Local Government Ethics Final Report Jan 1993

State Of New York Temporary State Commission On Local Government Ethics Final Report

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The New York Temporary State Commission on Local Government Ethics was constituted in 1987 in response to several ethics scandals in New York City government. The commission was tasked primarily with aiding local governments in evaluating and revising their own ethics standards, and with proposing new municipal ethics legislation for the State of New York. The commission's proposal for local ethics reform rested on the propositions that most local officials are honest and ethical; that local governments are heavily dependent on volunteers; that local government ethics must be enforced at the local level; that ethics rules must be reasonable, sensible, …

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