Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

The Clinician As Ethical Role Model In The Criminal Appellate Litigation Clinic, J. Thomas Sullivan

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Fall Of Legal Ethics And The Rise Of Risk Management, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Fortress In The Sand: The Plural Values Of Client-Centered Representation, Katherine R. Kruse

Scholarly Works

This article examines the history, development and theory of the client-centered approach to lawyering, which has become the most prevalent theory of lawyering taught in law school clinics. It examines the basic tenets of client-centered representation as a problem-solving approach and shows how critique and modification of the approach has spawned a diversity of lawyering models that share the basic tenets of client-centered representation but are in tension with its preferred methodology of lawyer neutrality. The article draws on theories of autonomy to help explain this tension, showing that notions of positive freedom support a range of autonomy-enhancing intervention into …

Bankruptcy Ethics Issues For Solos And Small Firms, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

This chapter, in Corinne Cooper & Catherine E. Vance's book Attorney Liability in Bankruptcy, walks the reader through some of the traditional ethics issues triggered by representing consumers and small businesses. It also addresses some of the ethics issues that the recent Bankruptcy Amendments (BAPCPA) have created.

Standing In Babylon, Looking Toward Zion, Katherine R. Kruse

Scholarly Works

This article defends the triumph of vision at the 2006 UNLV Conference on Representing Children in Families by examining the interrelationship between idealism and realism in the definition of lawyers' roles and the importance of idealized visions to the process of reforming dysfunctional systems. This article suggests that the vision of lawyering for children sketched in the UNLV Recommendations--though based in idealism--is both deeply realistic and ultimately practical. This article thus affirms the choice of the group of idealists who stood together for a few days in modern-day Babylon to keep their eyes trained on the vision of Zion as …

Swilling Hemlock: The Legal Ethics Of Defending A Client Who Wishes To Volunteer For Execution, J. C. Oleson

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Life In The Early Days Of Lawyer Advertising: Personal Recollections Of A Bates Baby The Fifth Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice And Professional Responsibility: Foreword., Gerald S. Reamey

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Do Reverse Payment Settlements Violate The Antitrust Laws, Christopher M. Holman

Faculty Works

The term "reverse payment" has been used as shorthand to characterize a variety of diverse agreements between patent owners and alleged infringers that involve a transfer of consideration from the patent owner to the alleged infringer. Reverse payment settlements are particularly associated with drug patent challenges mounted by generic drug companies under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Many, including the Federal Trade Commission, would characterize these agreements as antitrust violations. However, courts have generally declined to find these agreements in violation of the antitrust laws based solely on the presence of a reverse payment.

This article begins in Section II with an …

Introduction, Anita Bernstein, Marc Galanter, Tanina Rostain

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Social Hierarchies Within The Personal Injury Bar Affect Case Screening Decisions, Mary Nell Trautner

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

How The Spider Catches The Fly: Referral Networks In The Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury Bar, Sara Parikh

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Texas Plaintiffs’ Practice In The Age Of Tort Reform: Survival Of The Fittest — It’S Even More True Now, Stephen Daniels, Joanne Martin

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Blame It On The Bee Gees: The Attack On Trial Lawyers And Civil Justice, Robert S. Peck, John Vail

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Proposal To Use Common Ground That Exists Between The Medical And Legal Professions To Promote A Culture Of Safety, Steven E. Pegalis

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Someplace Between Philosophy And Economics: Legitimacy And Good Corporate Lawyering, Donald C. Langevoort

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay deals with the demands of responsible lawyering when one's client is a corporate or other business entity. I suspect that to most business clients, many of the laws they encounter are mundane and, worse, suspicious in their origins. We would be naive to think that laws always do more good than harm, or even that they are intended to do so. Too often, law in economic and commercial settings is the product of special interest haggling, political grandstanding, or bureaucratic sloth. In its totality, the bulk of commercial and regulatory law probably is mediocre at best. If this …

Exploring Disqualification Of Counsel In Texas: A Balancing Of Competing Interests The Fifth Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice And Professional Responsibility., Rebecca Simmons, Manuel C. Maltos

St. Mary's Law Journal

Uncertainty over conduct which results in disqualification can be costly and the laws relating to disqualification may be widely known but their application is difficult. Rigid application of irrebuttable presumptions and imputation of knowledge may result in disqualification of a client’s chosen counsel. Even if an attorney succeeds in opposing a motion to disqualify, the resulting costs and delay may damage the attorney-client relationship more than if the attorney had simply declined the representation. Motions to disqualify usually arise from conflicts of interest involving former clients. The law of disqualification, in this instance, is well developed and largely based on …

Take The Money Or Run: The Risky Business Of Acting As Both Your Client's Lawyer And Bail Bondsman The Fifth Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice And Professional Responsibility., Dayla S. Pepi, Donna D. Bloom

St. Mary's Law Journal

The American Bar Association strongly discourages lawyers from being bondsmen due to the conflicts that can arise when a criminal defense attorney acts as their client's bail bondsman. These same ethical dilemmas can also be encountered in posting a bond for a client in civil matters such as probate, family law, and appeals. In Texas, lawyers are exempt from the requirements of licensure as a bondsmen, including the requirement to maintain a particular level of security to underwrite the bonds. Nonetheless, lawyers are still required to conform to the requirements regulating the practice of bondsmen. It is not enough for …

On The Value Of Prison Visits With Incarcerated Clients Represented On Appeal By A Law School Criminal Defense Clinic, Timothy Everett

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Building A Better Lawyer Discipline System: The Queensland Experience, Leslie Levin

Faculty Articles and Papers

In many jurisdictions, lawyer-run discipline systems are inefficient, overly lenient and insufficiently responsive to consumer's concerns. Queensland's Legal Profession Act 2004 (Qld) breaks away from that model by moving lawyer discipline out of lawyers' professional associations and into an independent agency. It articulates a decidedly consumer-oriented approach to lawyer discipline and gives Queensland's new Legal Services Commissioner the power to investigate and prosecute all discipline complaints. This article looks at Queensland's recent reforms, and considers how well the new system is meeting its twin goals of consumer protection and traditional lawyer discipline. Using interviews and other data, the article identifies …

Power As A Factor In Lawyers' Ethical Deliberation, Susan Carle

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Plaintiff's Bar, Anita Bernstein, Marc Galanter, Tanina Rostain

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Attorneys Who Interpret For Their Clients: Communication, Conflict, And Confusion - How Texas Courts Have Placed Attorneys And Their L.E.P. Clients At The Discretion Of The Trial Court The Fifth Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice And Professional Responsibility" Recent Development., Teresa B. Morales, Nathaniel D. Wong

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Indigenous Self-Determination And Research On Human Genetic Material: A Consideration Of The Relevance Of Debates On Patents And Informed Consent, And The Political Demands On Researchers, Constance Macintosh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Genetic research involving indigenous populations provokes many legal, ethical and cultural issues. Arguably, of these issues, two dominate the literature. The first is whether human genetic materials are or ought to be patentable, which is often argued against on the basis that such patents offend human dignity generally and are culturally offensive to many indigenous peoples. The second is whether researchers must obtain informed consent from representatives of indigenous groups as a whole before attempting to obtain consent for participation from individual members of that group. I argue that there is limited benefit in continuing to debate the patentability of …

The Story Of Upjohn Co. V. United States: One Man's Journey To Extend Lawyer-Client Confidentiality, And The Social Forces That Affected It, Paul F. Rothstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The attorney-client privilege protects information a client provides an attorney in confidence for the purpose of securing legal advice. But suppose the client is not a person but a corporation and can only speak through its agents and employees. What then are the contours of the privilege? If the corporation's attorney asks an employee for information relating to pending litigation or other legal matters, is the conversation privileged? Some courts said that no communications to a corporate attorney were privileged unless they came from members of the corporate control group, loosely those people who had authority to direct the attorney's …

Pro Se Defendants And The Appointment Of Advisory Counsel, H. Patrick Furman

Publications

This article provides an overview of advisory counsel used to assist pro se criminal defendants, including the appointment and duties of advisory counsel, ethical obligations, and considerations for trial judges and prosecutors.

Standefer V. State: The Creation Of The Criminal Defendant's Diminished Right To A Trial By A Fair And Impartial Jury., Esperanza Guzman

St. Mary's Law Journal

In Texas, the right of an accused to have an impartial jury is firmly grounded in the voir dire process, the definitive goal of which is to empanel a fair and impartial jury. The right to a fair and impartial jury is bolstered by the voir dire examination. There have been large discrepancies over the types of questions which can be asked during the voir dire process. The court’s attempt to simplify the process of differentiating between proper and improper voir dire questions has “muddied the issue” for court participants and has resulted in the deprivation of a criminal defendant’s …

2003 Texas House Bill 4: Unanimous Exemplary Damage Awards And Texas Civil Jury Instructions., Patricia F. Miller

St. Mary's Law Journal

Lawmakers and other supporters of tort reform generally describe enacted tort reform legislation as having a positive effect on consumers. But tort reform can create new hurdles for plaintiffs seeking damage awards in civil litigation. The Texas Legislature’s 2003 House Bill 4 (H.B. 4) amendment to the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code (Code) represents the most recent example of major tort reform in Texas. It has yet to be seen whether H.B. 4 will meet promised expectations. What is clear is H.B. 4 will adversely affect Texas plaintiffs seeking exemplary (punitive) damages from a jury. The H.B. 4 amendment …

Legal Doubletalk And The Concern With Positional Conflicts: A "Foolish Consistency"?, Helen A. Anderson

Articles

This article argues that a legal positional conflict is not a true conflict of interest, and should not be the subject of an ethical prohibition. Because of the incentives it creates, a rule against positional conflicts gives greater control to wealthy clients over the availability of legal services without significantly protecting the rights of the poor or middle income clients. Business conflicts already exert significant pressure on lawyers; too much concern with potential positional conflicts only increases that pressure.

This article also argues that eliminating an ethical prohibition against potential conflicts could mitigate much of the credibility concerns raised by …

Teaching Ethics In And Outside Of Law Schools: What Works And What Doesn’T, Lisa G. Lerman

Scholarly Articles

No matter the setting or the audience, certain approaches are more likely than others to engage the students in learning the relevant law and exploring the array of dilemmas that lawyers encounter in practice. Some methods are more likely than others to help students to increase their ability to recognize ethical dilemmas and to understand the institutional dynamics and economic pressures that lead some lawyers to rationalize unethical conduct. On the other hand, some approaches to teaching ethics are almost certain to fail, to produce boredom, animosity, cynicism or alienation among participants. What follows is a short inventory of some …

Getting The Sand Out Of The Eyes Of The Law: The Need For A Clear Rule For Sand Suppliers In Texas After Humble Sand & (And) Gravel, Inc. V. Gomez., Victor E. Schwartz, Mark A. Behrens, Andrew W. Crouse

St. Mary's Law Journal

Health risks associated with the inhalation of silica dust have been known for a very long time. In the United States, the American Foundrymen’s Society has distributed literature addressing silica exposure hazards to its members for over 100 years. For years, litigation against industrial sand manufacturers concerning silica exposure was stable, though recently there has been a marked increase in the number lawsuits. While the number of suits continues to climb, the government reports silica-related deaths have declined dramatically. It appears plaintiffs’ attorneys are manufacturing silica claims using the same lawsuit-generating devices developed during the asbestos context. Tort law recognizes …