Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Legal Malpractice: When The Legal System Turns On The Lawyer Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Essay., Jennifer Knauth

St. Mary's Law Journal

What happens when a lawyer becomes a defendant in a legal malpractice case? Much has been written about the shortcomings of the adversary system as measured against its theoretical goals and assumptions. One significant assumption underlying the adversary system is that there is an equal playing field among litigants. The reality of a legal malpractice case is at odds with this ideal. The prevailing cultural bias against lawyers as gatekeepers and beneficiaries of the legal system permeates every aspect of a legal malpractice case. One effect of this cultural bias is the lawyer-defendant's very personal and disproportionate experience with the …

Legal Malpractice In Texas: Examining Selected Cases And Forecasting Future Trrends Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Wallace B. Jefferson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Little hard data exists concerning legal malpractice in Texas. What’s more, few legal law malpractice rulings are published. To date, there are only fifty written opinions on legal malpractice from Texas intermediate appellate courts. The activity that most often gave rise to a claim of legal malpractice involved the preparation, filing, and transmittal of documents, accounting for about a quarter of all claims. In San Antonio, Chief Justice Alma Lopez of the Fourth District Court of Appeals discussed common issues she sees in her courtroom. The issues ranged from failures to follow simple court rules to more substantial failures of …

The Texas Cave Bug And The California Arroyo Toad Take On The Constitution's Commerce Clause., Daniel J. Lowenberg

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Politicizing The End Of Life: Lessons From The Schiavo Controversy, Barbara A. Noah

Faculty Scholarship

The case of Theresa Marie Schiavo raises challenging legal and ethical issues, although the events of the case are not entirely novel. It is a well-settled principle under Florida law that individuals have a right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. After years of litigation, numerous courts have confirmed that removal of life support is legally appropriate under the facts of this case. Nevertheless, six days after Theresa's feeding tube was removed, the Florida legislature
opted to intervene in the final judicial decision by granting the Governor the authority to overrule the court's decision and to order the tube reinserted. These …

Shape Up Or Ship Out: Accountability To Third Parties For Patent Ambiguities In Testamentary Documents, Angela M. Vallario

All Faculty Scholarship

The attorney's preparation of a testamentary document (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a will or revocable trust) should clearly and accurately reflect the client's last wishes. Although these testamentary documents should reflect the client's intent, they often fall short of accomplishing that goal. There are numerous examples of will and trust construction cases that exhaust tremendous resources in an effort to ascertain the client's wishes or intent. Many of these cases involve the construction of patent and/or latent ambiguities which should have been resolved by appropriate drafting. This article's scope is limited to patent ambiguities caused by the attorney's negligence …

The Obligation Of Legal Aid Lawyers To Champion Practice By Nonlawyers, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

No abstract provided.

Adr Ethics, Scott R. Peppet

Publications

No abstract provided.

Teaching Practical Wisdom, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

No abstract provided.

Challenges To The Legal Profession In The New Millennium, Thomas R. Andrews

Articles

In this paper I discuss four "ethical" challenges faced by the legal profession as we enter into a new millennium. I know that these are challenges faced by the profession in the United States. And from my brief stay in Japan, I think that they are challenges faced by your legal profession, as well. In the process of discussing these challenges, I will also discuss some recent developments in the United States regarding legal ethics.

Here are the challenges I will discuss:

1. The Challenge of a Unified Legal Profession.
2. The Challenge of a Modern Law Firm.
3. The Challenge Posed by …

Legal And Ethical Duties Of Lawyers After Sarbanes-Oxley, Roger C. Cramton, George M. Cohen, Susan P. Koniak

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the legal and ethical duties of lawyers after Sarbanes-Oxley, focusing on the application, interpretation and ambiguities of the SEC rule implementing Section 307. Although our primary frame of reference will be on the SEC's new rules as an aspect of lawyer regulation, those rules are part of federal securities laws and should be considered in that aspect, i.e., whether they advance the purposes of the federal securities laws. The rules affecting lawyers should not be assessed in a vacuum as a mere turf war between federal regulators on the one hand and the organized bar and its …