Ethics in Large Law Firms: The Principle of Pragmatism

Abstract

Ethics in Large Law Firms: the Principle of Pragmatism reports on the first phase of an empirical study investigating the role large law firms play in shaping the ethics of the lawyers who work in them.

The study concludes that work in large law firm bureaucracies shapes lawyers' habits of mind in distinct ways. Because the norms in use in large law firms vary over time and among the powerful lawyers within a firm, lawyers working in today's large law firms employ a characteristic "choice of norm" rule to guide them. This choice of norm rule identifies the norms a lawyer should follow in a particular situation if he or she wants to act in accord with the logic of the firm. The large firm lawyers' choice of norm rule directs a lawyer to follow the norms (whether they are style norms, business generation norms or ethical norms) of the people the lawyer is working for and with at the time.

Because large-firm lawyers' success depends on their ability to "read their colleagues", they focus on the task of discerning the relevant norms, rather than evaluating the norms themselves. In other words, the large-firm lawyers' habit of mind is to discern the norm "appropriate" to the situation, not to judge the merits of any given norm. The article suggests that this habit of mind likely shapes large-firm lawyers' ethical consciousness and behavior as well.

Keywords: Ethics, Large Law Firms