Chapter 9
Why do Lawyers Have Special
Privileges and Responsibilities?
Question 9-1
True or False:
Law school training ensures that most
lawyers are competent providers of legal
services.
Question 9-2
True or False:
People without law school training are unable to
provide competent legal services.
Question 9-3
True or False:
Consumer protection requires that legal services
providers graduate from law school.
Question 9-4
True or False:
The bar exam ensures that lawyers are
competent to provide legal services.
Question 9-5
True or False:
People who have not passed the bar exam are
unable to provide competent legal services.
Question 9-6
True or False:
Consumer protection requires that lawyers pass
the bar exam.
Question 9-7
True or False:
The requirements of law school education and
the bar exam together ensure that lawyers can
provide competent legal services.
Question 9-8
Truse or False:
People who have not both graduated from law
school and passed the bar exam cannot provide
competent legal services.
Question 9-9
True or False:
Consumer protection requires that lawyers both
graduate from law school and pass the bar
exam.
Transcript
Morning Session, Symposium: The Opportunity
for Legal Education
59 Mercer L. Rev. 821 (2007)
Transcript
Afternoon Session, Symposium: The Opportunity
for Legal Education
59 Mercer L. Rev. 859 (2007)
Posting
Monroe H. Freedman, On Teaching and Testing
in Law School, to Legal Ethics Forum: The
Purpose of Law School Classes?
http://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2006/10/the_purpose_of_.html (Oct. 11,
2006)
Article
Society of American Law Teachers Statement on
the Bar Exam
52 J. Legal Educ. 446 (2002)
Article
Suzanne Darrow-Klienhaus, Response to the
Society of American Law Teachers Statement on
the Bar Exam
54 J. Legal Educ. 442 (2004)
Article
Vijay Sekhon, Over-Education of American
Lawyers: An Economic and Ethical Analysis of
the Requirements for Practicing Law in the
United States
14 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 769, 771-788 (2007)
Question 9-10
True or False:
A required law school Professional Responsibility
course ensures that lawyers are ethical providers
of legal services.
Question 9-11
People who have not passed a Professional
Responsibility course cannot ethically provide
legal services.
Question 9-12
True or False:
Consumer protection requires that legal services
providers pass a Professional Responsibility
course.
Question 9-13
The MPRE ensures that most lawyers are ethical
providers of legal services.
Question 9-14
People who have not passed the MPRE cannot
ethically provide legal services.
Question 9-15
Consumer protection requires that legal services
providers pass the MPRE.
Question 9-16
A law graduate who has failed to repay student
loans should be admitted to the bar.
Question 9-17
A law graduate with a prior conviction for selling
marijuana should be admitted to practice law.
Question 9-18
A law graduate who served a sentence for
manslaughter before beginning law school
should be admitted to the bar.
Question 9-19
An adulterer should be admitted to the bar.
Question 9-20
An alcoholic should be admitted to the bar.
Question 9-21
A Nazi should be admitted to the bar.
Question 9-22
The character and fitness requirement ensures
that lawyers are ethical providers of legal
services.
Question 9-23
True or False:
People who do not pass the character and
fitness requirement are not ethical providers of
legal services.
Question 9-24
True or False:
Consumer protection requires that legal services
providers pass a character and fitness test.
Question 9-25
Consumer protection requires that legal services
providers:
***
Article
National Conference of Bar Examiners,
Description of the MPRE
http://www.mcbex.org/multistate-tests/mpre/mpre-faqs/description0/
Article
Deborah L. Rhode, Ethics by the Pervasive
Method
42 J. Legal Educ. 31, 40-41 (1992)
Article
Cait Murphy, “Yale’s Markovits Redefines 21st
Century Legal Ethics,” Interview with Daniel
Markovits, Professor, Yale Law School
Mod. Ethical Law, http://modernethicallawyer.com/feature-stories/yalesmarkovits-redefines-21st-century-legal-ethics
Article
Cait Murphy, “Stanford’s Rhode Legal Ethics
Rock Star,” Interview with Deborah Rhode,
Professor, Stanford Law School
Mod. Ethical Law, http://modernethicallawyer.com/feature-stories/stanfordsrhode-legal-ethics-rock-star
Article
Deborah L. Rhode, Moral Character as a
Professional Credential
94 Yale L.J. 491 (1985)
Article
James C. Gallagher, Drugs, Alcohol, Mental
Health, and the Vermont Lawyer
Vt. Bar J. & L. Dig., Spring 2006, at 5.
Decision of Inquiry of the Committee on Character and Fitness of
the Supreme Court of Illinois for the Third Appellate District * * *
In the Matter of: the Application for Admission to the Bar of
Matthew F. Hale
Decision of Inquiry Panel (1998), aff’d, Committee on Character and Fitness of
Illinois for the Third Judicial District (1999), aff’d, 723 N.E.2d 206 (Ill., 1999)
Article
Richard L. Sloane, Note, Barbarian at the Gates:
Revisiting the Case of Matthew F. Hale to
Reaffirm that Character and Fitness Evaluations
Appropriate to Preclude Racists from the
Practice of Law
15 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 397, 425 (2002)
Question 9-26
True or False:
According to professionalism, lawyer discipline
functions adequately only if lawyers snitch on
each other.
Question 9-27
True or False:
The snitch rule works at law school because
almost all students inform the law school
administration when they believe that another
student has cheated.
Question 9-28
True or False:
Lawyers reliably report disciplinary violations by
other lawyers.
Question 9-29
The Arkansas disciplinary regulators received a complaint
that William Jefferson Clinton:
1) provided false, misleading, and evasive deposition
answers;
2) intentionally provided false testimony regarding
sexual relations with Lewinsky; and
3) had misled the American
people in a televised address regarding plaintiff's lawyers'
questions.
If true, what sanction should President Clinton have
received?
Question 9-30
True or False:
The disciplinary system protects consumers from
legal services providers who are either
incompetent or unethical.
Article
Timothy K. McPike & Mark I. Harrison, The True
Story on Lawyer Discipline
70 A.B.A. J., Sept. 1984, at 92
Neal v. Clinton
2001 WL 34355768 (Ark. Cir. 2001)
Article
Patrick J. Schiltz, Legal Ethics in Decline: The Elite
Law Firm, The Elite Law School, and the Moral
Formation of the Novice Attorney
82 Minn. L. Rev. 705 (1998)
Article
Tanina Rostain, Ethics Lost: Limitations of
Current Approaches to Lawyer Regulation
71 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1273 (1998)
Article
Richard W. Painter, Rules Lawyers Play By
76 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 665, 739 (2001)
Article
HALT, 2006 Lawyer Discipline Report Card
http://www.halt.org/news-a-publications/report-cards/2006-lawyer-discipline-reportcard
Question 9-31
Who should provide legal services?
Question 9-32
Should multidisciplinary practice be permitted?
Article
American Bar Association Commission on
Professionalism, “. . . In the Spirit of Public
Service:” A Blueprint for the Rekindling of
Lawyer Professionalism
112 F.R.D. 243, 301 (1986)
Posting
Larry Ribstein, Is Lawyer Licensing Really
Necessary?, to Ideoblog
http://busmovie.typepad.com/ideoblog/2006/05/is_lawyer_licen.html (May
6, 2006)
Article
Jonathan B. Wilson, Is Lawyer Licensing
Necessary?, PointofLaw.com
http://www.pointoflaw.com/feature/archives/2006/05/is-lawyer-licen-1.php
(May 19, 2006)
Article
Larry Ribstein, Final Thoughts on Lawyer
Licensing, PointofLaw.com
http://www.pointoflaw.com/feature/archives/2006/05/final-thoughts.php
(May 25, 2006)
Article
Written Remarks of Lawrence J. Fox, You’ve Got
the Soul of the Profession in Your Hands
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/commission
_multidisciplinary_practice/fox1.html
Article
John S. Dzienkowski & Robert J. Peroni,
Multidisciplinary Practice and the American
Legal Profession: A Market Approach to
Regulating the Delivery of Legal Services in the
Twenty-First Century
69 Fordham L. Rev. 83 (2000)
Article
Paul D. Paton, Multidisciplinary Practice Redux:
Globalization, Core Values and Reviving the MDP
Debate in America
78 Fordham L. Rev. 2193 (2010)
Question 9-33
Should Pro Bono service be mandatory for law
students?
Question 9-34
Should Pro Bono service be mandatory for
lawyers?
Model Rule 6.1
Voluntary Pro Bono Publico Service
URL:
http://www.americanbar.org/content/aba/groups/professional_responsibility/publicat
ions/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_6_1_voluntary_pro_bono_publico_s
ervice.html
Article
Deborah L. Rhode, Cultures of Commitment: Pro
Bono for Lawyers and Students
67 Fordham L. Rev. 2415 (1999)
Article
Heather MacDonald, What Good is Pro Bono?
10 City J. Spring, 2000, at 14
Question 9-35
Should the Rules mandate equal opportunity?
Article
Am. Bar Ass’n Presidential Initiative Comm’n on
Diversity, 2010 ABA Study of the State of
Diversity in the Legal Profession
Article
Nicole Lancia, Note New Rule, New York: A
Bifocal Approach to Discipline and
Discrimination
22 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 949 (2009)
Article
Akshat Tewary, Legal Ethics as a Means to
Address the Problem of Elite Law Firm Nondiversity
12 Asian L.J. 1 (2005)
Question 9-36
Legal practice is a:
***