The Moral Compass Of The American Lawyer

Author : Richard A. Zitrin,Carol M. Langford
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2011-10-12
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780307807410

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The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer by Richard A. Zitrin,Carol M. Langford Pdf

These are perilous times for Americans who need access to the legal system. Too many lawyers blatantly abuse power and trust, engage in reckless ethical misconduct, grossly unjust billing practices, and dishonesty disguised as client protection. All this has undermined the credibility of lawyers and the authority of the legal system. In the court of public opinion, many lawyers these days are guiltier than the criminals or giant corporations they defend. Is the public right? In this eye-opening, incisive book, Richard Zitrin and Carol Langford, two practicing lawyers and distinguished law professors, shine a penetrating light on the question everyone is asking: Why do lawyers behave the way they do? All across the country, lawyers view certain behavior as "ethical" while average citizens judge that same conduct "immoral." Now, with expert analysis of actual cases ranging from murder to class action suits, Zitrin and Langford investigate lawyers' behavior and its impact on our legal system. The result is a stunningly clear-eyed exploration of law as it is practiced in America today--and a cogent, groundbreaking program for legal reform.

Author : John Randolph Dos Passos
Publisher : Beard Books
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781587980022

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The American Lawyer by John Randolph Dos Passos Pdf

Author : Michael S. Ariens
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2022-11-14
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780700634095

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The Lawyer's Conscience by Michael S. Ariens Pdf

In 1776, Thomas Paine declared the end of royal rule in the United States. Instead, “law is king,” for the people rule themselves. Paine’s declaration is the dominant American understanding of how political power is exercised. In making law king, American lawyers became integral to the exercise of political power, so integral to law that legal ethics philosopher David Luban concluded, “lawyers are the law.” American lawyers have defended the exercise of this power from the Revolution to the present by arguing their work is channeled by the profession’s standards of ethical behavior. Those standards demand that lawyers serve the public interest and the interests of their paying clients before themselves. The duties owed both to the public and to clients meant lawyers were in the marketplace selling their services, but not of the marketplace. This is the story of power and the limits of ethical constraints to ensure such power is properly wielded. The Lawyer’s Conscience is the first book examining the history of American lawyer ethics, ranging from the mid-eighteenth century to the “professionalism” crisis facing lawyers today.

Author : Michael S. Ariens
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2023-07-21
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780700633838

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The Lawyer's Conscience by Michael S. Ariens Pdf

In 1776, Thomas Paine declared the end of royal rule in the United States. Instead, “law is king,” for the people rule themselves. Paine’s declaration is the dominant American understanding of how political power is exercised. In making law king, American lawyers became integral to the exercise of political power, so integral to law that legal ethics philosopher David Luban concluded, “lawyers are the law.” American lawyers have defended the exercise of this power from the Revolution to the present by arguing their work is channeled by the profession’s standards of ethical behavior. Those standards demand that lawyers serve the public interest and the interests of their paying clients before themselves. The duties owed both to the public and to clients meant lawyers were in the marketplace selling their services, but not of the marketplace. This is the story of power and the limits of ethical constraints to ensure such power is properly wielded. The Lawyer’s Conscience is the first book examining the history of American lawyer ethics, ranging from the mid-eighteenth century to the “professionalism” crisis facing lawyers today.

Author : Thomas D. Morgan
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780199737734

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The Vanishing American Lawyer by Thomas D. Morgan Pdf

selfless efforts, but professionalism will lead to occupational suicide if it is used as a justification for not seeing and adapting to the world ahead." --Book Jacket.

Author : Kermit L. Hall,David S. Clark,James W. Ely,Joel B. Grossman,N. E. H. Hull
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 939 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2002-05-02
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780199771165

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The Oxford Companion to American Law by Kermit L. Hall,David S. Clark,James W. Ely,Joel B. Grossman,N. E. H. Hull Pdf

A landmark in legal publishing, The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court is a now classic text many of whose entries are regularly cited by scholars as the definitive statement on any particular subject. In the tradition of that work, editor in chief Kermit L. Hall offers up The Oxford Companion to American Law, a one-volume, A-Z encyclopedia that covers topics ranging from aging and the law, wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping, the Salem Witch Trials and Plessy vs. Ferguson. The Companion takes as its starting point the insight that law is embedded in society, and that to understand American law one must necessarily ask questions about the relationship between it and the social order, now and in the past. The volume assumes that American law, in all its richness and complexity, cannot be understood in isolation, as simply the business of the Supreme Court, or as a list of common law doctrines. Hence, the volume takes seriously issues involving laws role in structuring decisions about governance, the significance of state and local law and legal institutions, and the place of American law in a comparative international perspective. Nearly 500 entries are included, written by over 300 expert contributors. Intended for the working lawyer or judge, the high school student working on a term paper, or the general adult reader interested in the topic, the Companion is the authoritative reference work on the subject of American law.

Author : James H. Fierberg
Publisher : American Bar Association
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Legal ethics
ISBN : 1641058307

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A Civility-based Model for New Lawyers by James H. Fierberg Pdf

While new law school graduates are pretty well versed in black letter law, they often lack the interpersonal and psychological skills that are imperative to a successful legal career. This book challenges the new lawyer to view themselves through the lens of their colleagues and clients and also to be aware of the basic behavioral norms that are the basis of a successful practice.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 584 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1895
Category : Commercial law
ISBN : UCAL:C3211146

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The American Lawyer by Anonim Pdf

Author : Wim J.M. Touw
Publisher : iUniverse
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2011-06-14
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781462008759

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Law Street by Wim J.M. Touw Pdf

The American legal system is far from perfect. High standards of fairness and equal justice for all are lacking, and conflicts of interest are an integral part of the systems practitioners. In Law Street, author Wim J.M. Touw discusses the ills of the American legal system and investigates the roots of its dysfunction. In his analysis Touw argues that American lawyers have lost their moral and ethical moorings; he provides a unique perspective of how American lawyers have manipulated the British common law system for their own financial benefit or to advance their careers. He compares the legal system of the United States with systems in the worlds foremost democracies to illustrate how American jurisprudence has strayed from its mission. Finally, he examines the criminal law system that puts innocent people in jail and explains in detail how the tort system, the contingency fee, and the loser pays laws have turned the once noble profession of lawyering into a profitable, unregulated business corrupting the legal process. Touw argues that what is good for Wall Street is good for Law Street and explains why American bar associations do not provide proper oversight. With thorough explanations and examples, Law Street tells a story about serious flaws in the American legal system and provides a wake-up call for Americas dysfunctional and often corrupt legal system.

Author : W. Bradley Wendel
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2012-08-26
Category : Law
ISBN : 9780691156217

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Lawyers and Fidelity to Law by W. Bradley Wendel Pdf

Even lawyers who obey the law often seem to act unethically--interfering with the discovery of truth, subverting justice, and inflicting harm on innocent people. Standard arguments within legal ethics attempt to show why it is permissible to do something as a lawyer that it would be wrong to do as an ordinary person. But in the view of most critics these arguments fail to turn wrongs into rights. Even many lawyers think legal ethics is flawed because it does not accurately describe the considerable moral value of their work. In Lawyers and Fidelity to Law, Bradley Wendel introduces a new conception of legal ethics that addresses the concerns of lawyers and their critics alike. Wendel proposes an ethics grounded on the political value of law as a collective achievement that settles intractable conflicts, allowing people who disagree profoundly to live together in a peaceful, stable society. Lawyers must be loyal and competent client representatives, Wendel argues, but these obligations must always be exercised within the law that constitutes their own roles and confers rights and duties upon their clients. Lawyers act unethically when they treat the law as an inconvenient obstacle to be worked around and when they twist and distort it to help their clients do what they are not legally entitled to do. Lawyers and Fidelity to Law challenges lawyers and their critics to reconsider the nature and value of ethical representation.

Author : James R. Maxeiner
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2011-08-29
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781139504898

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Failures of American Civil Justice in International Perspective by James R. Maxeiner Pdf

Civil justice in the United States is neither civil nor just. Instead it embodies a maxim that the American legal system is a paragon of legal process which assures its citizens a fair and equal treatment under the law. Long have critics recognized the system's failings while offering abundant criticism but few solutions. This book provides a comparative-critical introduction to civil justice systems in the United States, Germany and Korea. It shows the shortcomings of the American system and compares them with German and Korean successes in implementing the rule of law. The author argues that these shortcomings could easily be fixed if the American legal systems were open to seeing how other legal systems' civil justice processes handle cases more efficiently and fairly. Far from being a treatise for specialists, this book is an introductory text for civil justice in the three aforementioned legal systems.

Author : Deborah L. Rhode
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2003-04-10
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780195165548

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In the Interests of Justice by Deborah L. Rhode Pdf

A past president of the Association of American Law Schools and senior counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Clinton's impeachment proceedings, Rhode brings an insider's knowledge to the labyrinthine complexities of how the law works, or fails to work, for most Americans and often for lawyers themselves. She sheds much light on problems with the adversary system, the commercialization of practice, bar disciplinary processes, race and gender bias, and legal education.

Author : Takao Tanase
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2010-01-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781849803540

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Community and the Law by Takao Tanase Pdf

Takao Tanase seamlessly combines sociolegal and philosophical analysis as he explores the tensions between individual legal rights and communitarian values in settings ranging from post-divorce visitation rights to tort liability, lawyer client relationships, and rising litigation rates. Contrasting Japan with the individualistic thrust of American law, Tanase stresses the importance of building legal processes that encourage stronger social and communal bonds. Students of law and society on all continents will find rich food for thought in this intellectually bold and intriguing volume. Robert A. Kagan, University of California, Berkeley, US Takao Tanase s Community and the Law is a path breaking and often surprising interpretation of legal culture in Japan which includes subtle analyses of the changing role of lawyers and courts and the extent to which modernity and reliance on law are interlinked. But it is much more than that. His reflections on the different way law responds to social dilemmas in Japan and the USA are the building blocks of a much more ambitious project no less than constructing a coherent account of what law can and should do to maintain communal ties in postmodern times. The book is a pleasure to read for its learning and sophistication. Nottage and Wolff also deserve high praise for their light touch as editors and translators. David Nelken, University of Cardiff, UK and University of Macerata, Italy This important book translates seven landmark essays by one of Japan s most respected and influential legal thinkers. While Takao Tanase concedes that law might not matter as much in Japan as it does in the United States, in a provocative challenge to socio-legal researchers and comparative lawyers, he asks: why should it? The issue, he contends, is not whether law matters to society; it is how society matters to law. Developing a descriptive and normative theory of community and the law, the author directly challenges the view that legal liberalism represents the pinnacle of legal achievement. He criticises liberalism for destroying community in the United States and for offering false hope for a delayed modernity in Japan. By applying a distinctive interpretivist methodology, he constructs a communitarian model of law and society that serves as an alternative to legal liberalism. The book challenges conventional understandings of such legal sociological staples as torts, lawyers ethics, family law, human rights, constitutionalism and litigiousness. This fascinating book will prove a stimulating, thought provoking read for researchers and scholars of law, Japanese and American studies, sociology and jurisprudence.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1907
Category : Commercial law
ISBN : IND:30000108172820

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The American Lawyer by Anonim Pdf

Author : Allan Gerson
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2017-09-29
Category : Law
ISBN : 9781351509466

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Lawyers' Ethics by Allan Gerson Pdf

Frequently the ethical attorney finds himself in a position where he can no longer reconcile con-flicting responsibilities he owes to his clients with those he owes so-ciety and himself. Faced with the dilemma of choice among coun-tervailing and competing obliga-tions, he has little training and precedence to guide him. If he is over forty, the overwhelming probability is that he never took a course on legal ethics; if he looks for a general, up-to-date text to provide insight, he will look in vain. Nor is there a developed body of case law from which to glean an appropriate course of action.This vacuum of authoritative formulations of responsible be-havior is a matter of concern not only to the legal profession, but to all sectors of American society. Lawyers shape the mores and thoughts of all of us. Their will is exerted not only in modifying our national institutions, but ulti-mately our individual, personal sense of values.This volume serves two impor-tant purposes: it provides the interested professional and lay reader with an appreciation of thespectrum of the ethical dilemmas confronting the legal profession, and it provides a sense of balance about the competing consid-erations present in each of these dilemmas. At a time when the legal profession is under attack both from within and without, this book represents some of the best critical thinking by lawyers about their role and responsibilities in American society.