Lawyers’ Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice: A Critical Reader

Susan D. Carle centers this collection of texts on the premise that legal ethics should be far more than a set of rules on professional responsibility. Lawyers’ Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice broadens the discussion introduced in law schools’ legal ethics courses by first introducing the historical and theoretical background on the topic and then connecting legal ethics to real world issues of social justice while addressing lawyers’ ethical obligations to work for social justice. Carle draws on material traditionally covered in legal ethics courses, such as client confidentiality issues, representing organizations, conflicts of interest, and ethics issues as they arise in specific practice locations - including criminal law, corporate representation, and government lawyering - to demonstrate how they intersect with professional responsibility and social justice, using concrete examples of cases and social movements. The reader features differing critical approaches that are often in opposition to one another and opens up new avenues of ethical debate. While the literature included is diverse and interdisciplinary, it shares a vision of legal ethical inquiry as a means for changing power relations, empowering the disenfranchised, and advocating progressive social change. Through a combination of provocative selections, lively writing, and clear and incisive editorial commentary, Lawyers’ Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice defines the emergence of an exciting new field of critical legal ethics scholarship.