Abandoning an 'Unethical' System of Legal Ethics

51 Pages Posted: 9 Nov 2011 Last revised: 13 Dec 2011

See all articles by David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University

Date Written: December 12, 2011

Abstract

It is time to abandon the pretense of “legal ethics” as an independent lawyer-run system and to design a civil liability system in which lawyers can be held accountable to wronged clients at reasonable costs, ready access and fair modes of proof. To the extent the system of ethics actually caused lawyers to act “ethically” (and that is a major and largely unsupportable supposition) the competitive dynamics of the legal profession coupled with the significant decline in values, honesty and accountability in American society have rendered even that historically suspect system illegitimate. This does not mean that there are no ethical and fully professional lawyers because of course there are many. But it does mean that the confluence of an array of powerful economic and cultural forces combine to create a situation in which there is a high probability of many clients being ill-served by the lawyers in whom they have placed their trust.

With that in mind, this analysis focuses on the duty of lawyers to perform beyond the level of minimal competence on behalf of their clients and seeks to show through an illustrative series of examples how relatively poorly lawyers act on their clients’ behalf. It develops the argument through those examples that demonstrate how too many lawyers behave in ways that advance their own interests to the detriment of their clients. It then offers suggestions about how a regulatory system could work to shape improved lawyer behavior through accountability measures enacted to protect clients. Some background analysis is offered to focus on the economic dynamics of the world of modern law practice because to a substantial extent the failures are attributable to economic and demographic factors that have arisen over the past several decades and increasingly undermined the already tenuous ability of lawyers to behave in a principled and effective manner on behalf of their clients.

Keywords: Legal ethics, abandoning legal ethics, regulation of lawyers, economics of law practice, lawyer accountability, clients as commodities, access to legal services, costs of lawyers, betrayed clients, negligent lawyers, bankrupt system of legal ethics, common examples of ethical violations

Suggested Citation

Barnhizer, David R., Abandoning an 'Unethical' System of Legal Ethics (December 12, 2011). Michigan State Law Review, Vol. 1, 2012, Cleveland-Marshall Legal Studies Paper No. 11-232, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1950334

David R. Barnhizer (Contact Author)

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University ( email )

1801 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
United States
216-687-2315 (Phone)

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