Of Shining Knights and Cunning Pettifoggers: The Symbolic World of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Abstract:     
This co-authored article offers a coherent ethical perspective on the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The legal profession bases its Model Rules on assumptions about lawyers, their clients and, adversaries, the authority to which lawyers appeal, and the economy in which they practice. Citing in support every Model Rule, this article exposes the rich symbolic assumptions underlying the Rules and concludesing that it is through this symbolic world that the Model Rules are best understood. The article includes a description of the normative economy on which the symbolic world of the Model Rules is based.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 25

Keywords: ethics, rules, profession, conduct, lawyers, symbolic, coherence, norms

Accepted Paper Series