Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

Legal Skills For A Transforming Profession, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The legal profession is undergoing dramatic changes that will drive a reformation in legal education. Legal educators must anticipate these changes to effectively prepare students for the practice of law in the twenty-first century. In order to be proficient practitioners, these students will require an expanded set of professional skills. Although the current legal skills paradigm was articulated by the American Bar Association MacCrate Task Force in 1991, it is time to reexamine legal skills with an eye toward preparing students to practice law in the new millennium. In Section II, this article examines trends in modern society and the …

Practicing Law Across Geographic And Professional Borders: What Does The Future Hold?, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A new global business reality is transforming the practice of law. Nowhere is this transformation more apparent than in the areas of multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary practice. These two trends, towards practice across jurisdictional boundaries on the one hand and across professional boundaries on the other, are engaging the attention of lawyers at the American Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association: the American Corporate Counsel Association, the International Bar Association, as well as numerous other state and local, international, and specialty bar associations. This article describes that new business reality, those trends, and some of the ethical constraints presented by current …

Bringing The Practice To The Classroom: An Approach To The Professionalism Problem, Steven H. Goldberg

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The first section of this article presents a brief history and description of a professionalism movement that continues to urge law schools to do more to solve the “professionalism problem.” The second discusses legal education's failure to bring professionalism into the law school curriculum. The third describes the structure and teaching method of The Practice—a different kind of course about professionalism—while the fourth discusses the professionalism content of the course. I conclude with a plea for law faculty to direct their considerable talents toward collecting stories and data about the profession and creating material to facilitate law school courses that …

Abuse Of Confidentiality And Fabricated Controversy: Two Proposals, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article is framed as a discussion of two proposals for modifying the Model Rules. One would declare fabricated controversy to be out of bounds as a tactical tool. The other would expressly affirm that it is an abuse of confidentiality for lawyers to engage in strategies of partial-truth advocacy, to assert partial truths while deliberately holding back other information that the lawyer should know is needed in order not to mislead others. Both of these techniques, fabrication of controversy and partial-truth advocacy, tend to undercut the trial as a “search for truth” and both interfere with negotiations as a …

A Primer On Mdps: Should The No Rule Become A New Rule, Laurel Terry

Faculty Scholarly Works

This article is the second of four major articles or book chapters that I have written about MDPs. "MDPs" refers to multidisciplinary partnerships or multidisciplinary practices between lawyers and nonlawyers. Prior to 1998, virtually all U.S. states had lawyer discipline rules that prohibited a lawyer from sharing legal fees with a nonlawyer or practicing law in partnership with a nonlawyer. In 1998, however, the American Bar Association created a Commission on Multidisciplinary Practice to reconsider these rules. One impetus for the creation of this Commission was the increasingly large numbers of lawyers who were working for the Big 5 Accounting …

The National Association Of Honest Lawyers: An Essay On Honesty, "Lawyer Honesty" And Public Trust In The Legal System, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The growing public disquiet about lawyer ethics is not mainly because people think lawyers neglect their professional standards. Rather, the main problem is the belief among lawyers that the duty of loyalty to clients requires a lawyer to mislead. Specifically, the ethical duty of confidentiality and the ethical duty of zealous advocacy are interpreted together to mean that lawyers must conceal some facts (‘confidentiality‘) while forcefully asserting others. This mis-coupling of these two key ethical duties has an inevitable tendency to produce a kind of partial-truth advocacy in which the lawyer knowingly distracts attention from the truth and fosters misconceptions …

Lawyers, Accountants, And The Battle To Own Professional Services, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Competition between lawyers and accountants is not a new concept. At various times during the past century, these two professions have clashed over the scope and definition of their respective services. Lawyers traditionally have relied upon a professional monopoly to provide “legal” services as a device to exclude nonlawyers from the practice of law. Supported by statutes in many jurisdictions making the unauthorized practice of law a criminal offense and ethics rules prohibiting lawyers from assisting in the unauthorized practice of law, lawyers have always been able to identify some inner sanctum of professional services that only they could handle. …

A Nightmare On Main Street (Part Mxl): Freddie Joins An Accounting Firm, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The subject of multidisciplinary practice (“MDP”) has intrigued me for well over a decade. The topic has led me into new areas of research, and sometimes into the cross hairs of colleagues in the legal profession. My views have not always represented the mainstream of thinking among lawyers, and that is reflected in the title of my talk today: “A Nightmare on Main Street (Part MXL): Freddie Joins an Accounting Firm.”

The Standard Of Care In Legal Malpractice: Do The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct Define It?, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article will review existing case law and commentary, and propose a new formula for application of rules of professional conduct in determining the standard of care to which attorneys should be held in malpractice cases. The authors will argue in favor of establishing a position that state rules of professional conduct create certain specific standards of lawyer behavior that constitute a minimum standard of conduct and a minimum standard of care for every individual attorney practicing in each jurisdiction.

Legal Ethics And Fugitive Slaves: The Anthony Burns Case, Judge Loring, And Abolitionist Attorneys, Paul Finkelman

Cardozo Law Review

Judges and lawyers seek to enforce and uphold the "law" while also proclaiming an interest in an abstraction we call "justice." As we know, there is often a tension between the two. Consequently, serving the law often means not serving justice. Similarly, often a tension exists between a lawyer's duty both to seek a legal remedy to a problem and to act in the best interests of a client. Activist lawyers can have an agenda that is at odds with members of the class they claim to serve. These two problems are complicated by a third. Lawyers and judges have …

Can A Lawyer Ever Do Right?, Owen M. Fiss

Cardozo Law Review

Jacques Maury and Maurice Gargon were good people, but not good enough. They resisted the harshness of the racial laws of Vichy France but not as fully as they should have. Falling victim to the proclivity of all lawyers, they became ensnared within the technical trappings of the law. They helped individual clients who suffered under the Vichy laws, but are faulted by Richard Weisberg for failing to challenge those laws at a foundational level. Professor Weisberg described the result as grotesque.

Jacob Burns, Simon J. Liebowitz

Cardozo Law Review

The demise of Mr. Jacob Bums is a great loss not only to his family but to his many friends. Folks who met him in the course of his manifold humanitarian activities were deeply impressed by his sincerity, kindness, and love for humanity. As a practicing lawyer his great ability served his clients well. Providing pro bono legal services to the poor was a way of life to him.

A Stalwart At The Bar, Arthur Norman Field

Cardozo Law Review

The New York legal community that Jack Bums found upon his admission to the Bar in 1932 was not given to welcoming all comers. It was changing rapidly. To many leaders of the Bar the change was not a positive one.

The Moral Labyrinth Of Zealous Advocacy, James R. Elkins

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dances With Nonlawyers: A New Perspective On Law Firm Diversification, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, Professor Munneke continues the debate over ethical rules governing lawyers' professional affiliations with nonlawyers, arguing in favor of the adoption of uniform rules that regulate lawyers' conduct in the context of specific ethical issues, such as confidentiality and conflicrs of interest. In Professor Munneke's view, the retention of ethical rules that prohibit law firm diversification impedes the ability of lawyers to compete effectively in today's rapidly changing marketplace of professional services.

Professor Munneke moreover questions whether state bar association rules that prohibit law firm diversification are capable of withstanding judicial scrutiny under the federal antitrust laws and …

Crossing The Bridge To Secular Law: Three Models Of Incorporation, Jeffrey I. Roth

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Client-Centered Counseling: Reappraisal And Refinement, Robert Dinerstein

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The Lawyer's Duty To Keep Clients Informed: Establishing A Standard Of Care In Professional Liability Actions, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article will explore the problem of the attorney's duty to provide clients with adequate information to make informed decisions. It will discuss situations in which such a duty is appropriate, and suggest that a cause of action for informed consent must be limited to those fact patterns where courts have established the right of the client to make the decision. The analysis rejects establishment of a broad right of the client to control all aspects of the representation. The Article will first review the history of the development of professional liability law with particular emphasis on the medical profession, …

Monetary Sanctions Against Attorneys For Discovery Abuse In Federal Court: When Can They Be Appealed, Nancy E. Berman

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Genesis And Goals Of The Ali Corporate Governance Project, Roswell B. Perkins

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The City University Of New York Law School: An Insider's Report, Vanessa Merton

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Law School of the City University of New York ("CUNY") is an experiment in whether it is possible for lawyers to integrate their lives. It is not, primarily, an institution with a somewhat novel, somewhat derivative, approach to legal education (although it is that). It is a place where lawyers try to bridge the gap between love and work, those so often dichotomized constituents of life. At CUNY we are trying simultaneously to equip students for survival in the current legal system and to burden them with a critical perspective on that system; to do and think, to practice …

Anti-Professionalism, Stanley Fish

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

For A Few Dollars More: Client’S Right To Discharge His Attorney Under A Contingent Fee Contract, Irving Cohen

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of Kanter On Hiring: A Lawyer's Guide To Lawyer Hiring, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Managing The Recruitment Process, Gary A. Munneke

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Confidential Communication Element Of The Attorney-Client Privilege, Gerald Sobel

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Serving The Public Interest: An Overstated Objective, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

It is clear that there are many occasions when legal services would be useful but are not being provided. The question is what the legal profession can do and should be fairly expected to do about this.

Attorneys - Law Firm May Obtain Injunction Barring Soliciation Of Clients By Former Salaried Associates, John Stemplewicz

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Ptolemaism In The Law And Concomitant Needs For Scientific Study Of The Legal System, Fredrick W. Huszagh

Scholarly Works

Traditional law review and text development efforts ensure the internal integrity of the law system. This article has attempted to explore research approaches that can improve the quality and quantity of the linkages between the law and other systems. Inherent in the approaches advocated with the physical science, social science and humanistic disciplines.

Constructive reliance on other disciplines, however, is not easily achieved, since the parts of each major discipline are so disparate and their yearly achievements so substantial. In most instances, their import for the law system cannot be fully grapsed by law scholars, even if they are trained …

The Lawyer As A Citizen, University Of Virginia Law Review Banquet, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Powell Speeches

No abstract provided.