Legal Ethics Forum

This blawg discusses recent court decisions and news stories related to legal ethics issues—lawyer advertising, attorney-client privilege, multijurisdictional practice—and follows news stories of allegations and trials related to lawyer or judicial misconduct.

Author: Law professor contributors: John S. Dzienkowski, University of Texas; Brad Wendel, Cornell University; John Steele, a lecturer at Santa Clara University; Andrew Perlman, Suffolk University; David McGowan, University of San Diego; Laura Appleman, Willamette College of Law, who also contributes to The Faculty Lounge; Steve Lubet, Northwestern University; Anita Bernstein, Brooklyn Law School; Don Burnett, University of Idaho Law School; Steve Berenson, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Monroe H. Freedman, Hofstra University Law School; Sarah Cravens of the University of Akron; Robert Vischer of St. Thomas School of Law in St. Paul, Minn., who also contributes to Mirror of Justice and The Religiously Affiliated Law Schools; Alice Wooley of the University of Calgary; and David Hricik of Mercer University, who also edits Statutory Construction Blog and contributes to Legalethics.com.

Recent Posts from Legal Ethics Forum

Illinois Adopts Long Awaited Rule Revisions
On July 1, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an order that repeals the existing rules of professional conduct and replaces them with a new set of provisions, effective January 1, 2010. Links to the new…
Bill Henderson on Paul Lippe's article about the future of legal practice
Bill has cross-posted his thoughts. The first paragraph from Lippe's article articulates a point that i discuss with students every semester: If I need some insight into the future of medicine, I might head over…
Judge Kozinski cleared of misconduct (but "admonished")
Story here. Opinion here, issued by the Third Circuit.
Bad debt=bad character
For this applicant to the bar anyway: here. The circumstances seem unfortunate, and the purpose served by excluding this applicant unclear. Does he pose a threat to the public interest, or merely seem the wrong…
To Send a Message
Not lawyers' ethics, but morality. I'm interested in whether others share my (and Kant's) concern with sentencing Madoff to the max in order to "send a message," as Judge Chin said. Without doing any research…
Bill Henderson on the decline and fall of the bi-modal associate salary
Must reading if you're interested in the US legal profession.
Here's one way to boost your law school's post-graduation employment rate
Words fail. In one e-mail exchange, University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman forced the law school to admit an unqualified applicant backed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich while seeking a promise from the governor's go-between that…
Hmm. Justice Kennedy cites the Model Code for a duty of zeal?
In the new case, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, Justice Kennedy's dissent cites Canon 7-1 of the Model Code as support for his belief that criminal defense counsel has a duty of zeal. I'm a big fan…
Once enacted by a jurisdiction, who owns the copyright on a set of model rules? Pre-enactment, who does?
It's a long simmering question. Pre-enactment, does the body that urges widespread adoption of a set of model rules grant a license to others? Post-enactment, does the authorship in the model rules merge with the…
Judges and "Invidious" Discrimination
In response to John's post last week on Sotomayor and the Belizean Grove, I posted a comment suggesting that maybe she was right to claim that resignation was not required. The 2007 version of the…