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 …

Vultures And Lambs: A Journey Through Protective Services For The Texas Elderly., Christopher J. Pettit

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Texas system leaves the elderly and disabled vulnerable to financial vultures. Despite guardianship and pre-planning processes meant to empower elderly and disabled Texans to choose who shall manage their affairs, the Texas system may give a financial vulture access to the elderly or disabled’s accounts. Texas agencies such as Adult Protective Services’ purpose is to stop the abuse of the elderly, however, the agency is sometimes used as a tool to circumvent the stated wishes of an elderly person. For example, a person seeking to exploit an elderly person may do so by simply filing charges with Adult Protective …

"On The Make": Campaign Funding And The Corrupting Of The American Judiciary, David R. Barnhizer

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The thesis offered here is that the cost of judicial campaigns has reached a level where both candidates and sitting judges are shaping their behavior to attract financial and other support. This not only results in distortion of judicial selection by repelling meritorious potential candidates who are unwilling to compromise their principles, but in the capture of judges by special interests willing to finance judicial campaigns. Some argue that the great increase in contributions to judicial candidates simply means that contributors are giving to candidates they feel certain will support their positions. To some extent this is certainly true. But …

Bringing Ohio's Legal Ethics Into The 21st Century, Lloyd B. Snyder

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The time has come for Ohio to replace the Code of Professional Responsibility with a set of standards based on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The author offers seven reasons for doing so.

Real World Pressures On Professionalism, Thomas D. Morgan

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Intersection Of Law And Medicine Legal Ethics In Medicine: Foreword, Kathy L. Cerminara

St. Thomas Law Review

Foreword: The Intersection of Law and Medicine by Kathy L. Cerminara.

Ethics, Ethnicity, And Dementia: A "Culture-Fair" Approach To Bioethical Advocacy In Dementing Illness, Ramon Valle

Georgia Law Review

The aims of this discussion are to twofold. The first is to apply what Post et al. term a cultural lens to bioethical decisionmaking processes in dementing illness.' The second is to assist the ethical advocate to develop a cultural analysis strategy for application of ethical decisionmaking processes within ethnically diverse populations. An assumption made here is that, as human inventions, ethical systems are an extension of culture, taking their imprint from the ethnocultural systems from which they emerge.' It is true that ethical systems and their principles can be widely shared across cultures. Modern bioethics, as promulgated within the …

Book Review. Cyberethics: Morality And Law In Cyberspace By R. A. Spinello, Elizabeth Larson Goldberg

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Bar Association Ethics Committees: Are They Broken Conference On Legal Ethics: What Needs Fixing, Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the work of bar association ethics committees. These are committees established by bar associations to give advice to lawyers about how to comply with the applicable rules of professional conduct. My question is, are these committees broken? Over the past two decades, several legal academics have concluded that they are. At its harshest, the critique is that ethics committees, typified by the American Bar Association's ("ABA") ethics committee, publish opinions that respond to trivial questions by providing poorly reasoned answers on which nobody can or does rely, and that the reason that the committees' opinions are inadequate …

Reflections On The Ethics Of Legal Academics: Law Schools As Mdps; Or, Should Law Professors Practice What They Teach Symposium: Ethics Of Law Professors, Bruce A. Green

Faculty Scholarship

[A member of the House of Commons said in Samuel Johnson's presence] that he paid no regard to the arguments of counsel at the bar of the House of Commons, because they were paid for speaking. JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir, argument is argument. You cannot help paying regard to their arguments, if they are good, If it were testimony, you might disregard it, if you knew that it were purchased. There is a beautiful image in Bacon upon this subject: testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow; the force of it depends on the hand that draws it. …

Just Being A Lawyer: Reflections On The Legal Ethics Of A President Under Impeachment, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The core vice that Posner finds in Clinton’s efforts to contain the truth of the Lewinsky affair is very similar to a fault the public perceives in the behavior of lawyers generally. Namely, lawyers often try to obscure or distract from factual truth order to prevent the law from applying as intended. Most of this avoidance behavior is technically lawful because, for pragmatic reasons, allowances for such avoidance have been deliberately built into the criminal laws against perjury, obstruction of justice and the like. These allowances are a compromise that the law makes with morals so its criminal prohibitions will …

Presidential Ethics: Should A Law Degree Make A Difference?, Nancy B. Rapoport

Scholarly Works

Two of the nation's most controversial presidents, Nixon and Clinton, were both lawyers, and both of them had ethics-related problems while in office. This essay reviews whether any model ethics rules force lawyer-presidents to behave at a higher standard than non-lawyer-presidents; then it discusses the implications for legal education if we really do want lawyers to go above and beyond the norm of behavior.

The Prudent Prosecutor, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Can You Be A Good Person And A Good Prosecutor?, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Somehow, it is understood that prosecutors have the high ground. Most people simply assume that prosecutors are the good guys, wear the white hats, and are on the "right" side. Most law students contemplating a career in criminal law seem to think this. It could be that most practicing lawyers think this, as well.

Prosecutors represent the people, the state, the government. This is very noble, important, and heady stuff. Prosecutors seek truth, justice, and the American way. They are the ones who stand up for the victims and would-be victims, the bullied and battered and burgled. They protect all …

Has The Fog Cleared - Attorney Work Product And The Attorney-Client Privilege: Texas's Complete Transition Into Full Protection Of Attorney Work In The Corporate Context., Fred A. Simpson

St. Mary's Law Journal

The following discussion in this Article fills the gaps in the substantive rules surrounding the attorney work product doctrine and the attorney-client privilege, thereby encouraging practitioners to utilize these tools more freely. Initially, the attorney-client privilege contemplated application only to individuals. As the rule developed in the United States, however, the scope of the privilege broadened until it included corporations. Since 1982, Texas has provided for the attorney-client privilege in Texas Rule of Civil Evidence 503.149. Notably, the Rule defined client in such a way as to include a corporation. Unlike the attorney-client privilege, the work product doctrine developed much …

No Taxation Without Realization: Srivastava V. Commissioner, The Fifth Circuit's Answer To Tax Treatment Of Attorney's Fees Under A Contingency Fee Agreement., Bernard J. Grant Iii

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Jury Erosion: The Effects Of Robinson, Havner, & (And) Gammill On The Role Of Texas Juries., Ricky J. Poole, Kimberly S. Keller

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Attorney Referral For Medical Treatment: A Wolf In Disguise., Martin J. Phipps

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas attorneys should be obligated to disclose whether they referred their client to a pre-selected physician. Plaintiff attorneys, however, have been allowed to withhold this information from the court arguing the information is privileged. The practice of using a pre-selected physician is unethical and unfairly prejudicial. If the attorney and physician have an agreement, the attorney is likely to send numerous clients to that specific physician in order to receive a discount. The physician in turn is likely to recommend medically unnecessary procedures in order to inflate money damages. Therefore, in order to prevent potential abuse between the attorney-physician relationship, …

Getting It Right From The Beginning: A Critical Examination Of Current Criminal Defense In Texas And Proposal For A Statewide Public Defender System., Rebecca Copeland

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Religion In Public Schools: Let Us Pray - Or Not., Carolyn Hanahan, David M. Feldman

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Essay addresses judicial interpretation and application of the religious protections of students in public schools. Part II addresses the evolution of the law governing prayer in public schools, including the creation of judicial tests utilized in determining whether a school district has impeded the rights of students in the area of religion. Part III examines the application of these tests to various activities, including a discussion of the disparity in judicial interpretation with respect to the permissibility of prayer at public school functions. This Essay concludes with a discussion analyzing the effect of the recent United States Supreme Court …

Those Dangerous Student Prayers., Kelly J. Coghlan

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Parental Rights In The Twenty-First Century: Parents As Full Partners In Education., Linda L. Schlueter

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Interpreting Mineral And Royalty Deeds: The Legacy Of The One-Eighth Royalty And Other Stories., Laura H. Burney

St. Mary's Law Journal

Mineral and royalty deeds are notoriously difficult to interpret. Courts complicate the interpretive process in at least two ways. First, they produce opinions that fail to appreciate and explain unique oil and gas concepts. Second, they render deed records unreliable. A variety of title problems flow from this instability. However, a common trait is frequently encountered: the influence of the one-eighth royalty provision typically used for decades in oil and gas leases. Unfortunately, courts have failed to acknowledge this influence. For this reason, title litigation will continue to loom under the legacy of the one-eighth royalty, and title examiners will …

Internet Property Rights: E-Trespass., John D. Saba Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Plaintiffs whose Internet property rights were violated have depended on the common law tort of trespass to chattels. Plaintiffs in Thrifty-Tel, Inc. v. Bezenek and CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc. successfully argued defendants trespassed their chattels. In Thrifty-Tel, defendants hacked into plaintiff’s system to obtain long-distance access codes. The court reasoned that electronic signals were tangible and indirect interference in the form of electronic trespass could support a claim for trespass to chattels. In CompuServe Inc., defendants used plaintiff's internet server to send out mass emails to plaintiff’s clients. The court upheld a permanent injunction holding that electronic signals …

Just Between Us -- Aba Considers New Ethical Rules, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article briefly describes one of the proposed rule revisions (Model Rule 1.6) to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct that will be presented to the ABA House of Delegates in July 2001 by the Ethics 2000 Commission.

The Market For Medical Ethics, Maxwell Gregg Bloche

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

At the core of Kenneth Arrow’s classic 1963 essay on medical uncertainty is a claim that has failed to carry the day among economists. This claim—that physician adherence to an anti-competitive ethic of fidelity to patients and suppression of pecuniary influences on clinical judgment pushes medical markets toward social optimality—has won Arrow near-iconic status among medical ethicists (and many physicians). Yet conventional wisdom among health economists, including several participants in this symposium, holds that this claim is either naïve or outdated. Health economists admire Arrow’s article for its path-breaking analysis of market failures resulting from information asymmetry, uncertainty, and moral …

Class Dismissed: The Conservative Class Action Revolution Of The Texas Supreme Court., Russell T. Brown

St. Mary's Law Journal

Historically, Texas plaintiffs enjoyed tremendous flexibility in gaining certification for class action lawsuits because of a liberal approach employed by Texas trial courts. Because certification assignment occurred early in the judicial proceedings, Texas case law encouraged trial courts to grant certification of a class. Putative classes chose to seek relief in state court because of the state’s lax view regarding class actions, particularly when compared to federal courts. Concerns arose throughout Texas about the growing liberal methodology courts used to evaluate putative classes during certification. Federal influence, state lobbies, and legislative pressure led the Texas judiciary, through application of the …

Does Community Notification For Sex Offenders Violate The Eighth Amendment's Prohibition Against Cruel And Unusual Punishment - A Focus On Vigilantism Resulting From Megan's Law., Alex B. Eyssen

St. Mary's Law Journal

Community notification of a sex offender’s presence may be violating the Eighth Amendment’s protection from Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Under Megan’s Law and other sex offender registration statutes, individuals that have completed a prison sentence for a sex crime may have to register as a sex offender. The information of the individual including his name, address, physical description, date of birth, social security number, employer, offense, and picture, is publicly disseminated. As an unintended consequence, individuals who have served their time may have to suffer additional punishment in the form of harassment, vigilantism, and violence.

Taas And Gi Forum V. Texas Education Agency: A Critical Analysis And Proposal For Redressing Problems With The Standardized Testing In Texas., Blakely Latham Fernandez

St. Mary's Law Journal

Texas’s use of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test as an accountability program has had numerous negative and far-reaching effects on minorities. Today, students in Texas public schools first take the TAAS test in the third grade. Students continue to take a form of the TAAS test each year, with the exit-level assessment initially given in the eleventh grade. Students must pass all four sections–Mathematics, English, Science, and Social Studies–in order to graduate and receive their high school diploma. Although devised to effectively motivate students, schools, and teachers with the goal of enhancing educational standards, the TAAS test …

In Memory Of Joni Cesta, Neil D. Levin, Thomas Crane Wales, Glenn J. Winuk, David Yellen

Articles

Volume 30 of the Hofstra Law Review is dedicated to members of the Hofstra community, including four graduates of the Law School, who were violently taken from us during the past year. Of the four Law School graduates, Joni Cesta '91, Neil D. Levin '81, and Glenn J. Winuk '87 were lost in the September 1 1th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Thomas Crane Wales '79 was murdered in Seattle, Washington on October 11, 2001. The Hofstra Law Review presents the following biographical sketches to honor the memory of these four distinguished alumni.