Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law

by Lisa G. Lerman, Philip G. Schrag

Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law is a problem-based casebook sure to generate lively class discussion. Using real-world problems and cases, with emphasis on issues students are likely to face in their early years of practice, it places students in the lawyers position to engage in simultaneous strategic and ethical analysis of each problem.

The Third Edition includes hundreds of new examples and introduces new material on current ethical issues. Outsourcing, contract lawyers, Internet advertising, and nonlawyer ownership of law firms are given thorough treatment, as are recent changes in rules and Justice Department policies. Sure to stimulate discussion, the companion website features a new recorded interview with the Guantanamo defense lawyer ordered to represent an unwilling defendant.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Legal

948 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2005

Reviews

[Clay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Could not recommend less.

[Saige Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over 1000 pages and no one even kisses at the end 💔💔

[Catherine Dukelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This textbook was a nice bit of variety from my
other textbooks as it wasn’t as case heavy. It covers some stuff that is pretty basic in my opinion, but I guess some people do need to be told that discrimination is wrong. I also enjoyed that there were little cartoons in here, a nice little treat now and again. The book did what it was supposed to do.

[Andrew Yuan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book, I was initially excited to learn legal ethics. The issue with this book is part the author's fault and part the legal community's fault. The frameworks are blurry and one could easily debate how to interpret the rules, which makes me believe that these rules were created for the ABA to disclaim liability. The author presents the information in such a messy way that it is difficult to find certain pages and everything is chalked up to "Can a lawyer do X? No".

[emilia borg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book! Helpful, good info, easy to read

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

This textbook is a perfect characterization of the current market of money-grubbing psuedo-academic publishers clinging leach-like to the field of higher education. Lerman, one of the two authors, has a fascinating body of research. She conducts anonymous surveys in the legal field in an attempt to determine what kind of violations to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct are happening in practice, and the extent to which these violations occur. That is actual, legitimate scholarship. This book is not. On the basis of Lerman's own research, this book is amusing. One example of Lerman's findings shows a common trend of illegally profiting on mundane services within law firms, which includes things like profiting on making copies, buying paper, having interns make coffee, etc." "Profiting on mundane services," as it turns out, would be a great back cover description for this book.

Despite being short and having little content, this is the most expensive law textbook I have yet had to purchase. There are a number of tactics for driving up the price of this book: the text is the largest I've ever seen in a textbook, there is a significant amount of filler, and the book is crammed full of pictures. The filler is not subtle. Every MRPC rule has a summary, which was apparently created by the following method: take the rule, pop open your thesaurus, substitute in some synonyms, write down the edited version, and you've got a summary. There is also a good deal of overlap with the MRPC comments, which are entirely free. But our authors have reordered some of the words and sold them, at a profit, as original content.

And then there are the pictures, which are probably the most egregious tactic. Before I got tired of counting, I found that the book contained at least 91 pictures, 3 graphics, and 42 comics. Each comic, for reference, takes up from 1/4 to 1/2 of a page. "What are these pictures of?" you might ask. Professors. For almost every legal scholar quoted in this book, a picture of said scholar is included. How many times have I sat back over a legal textbook and thought, "I don't understand this at all. I wish I had a pictures of the professor who wrote this to help with my comprehension!" Fear not! Lerman and Schrag have you covered, because clearly pictures of authors are a competent way of making readers understand legal ethics more thoroughly. Other highlights include pictures of Presidents Nixon and Clinton (because a significant number of graduate school-aged students capable of reading this book in English have obviously never seen a pictures of Bill Clinton before), which are truly enlightening. To top it all off, Lerman threw in some pictures to go with her hypotheticals. This includes such things as a picture of a taxi, a picture of a cafe, and a picture of a washing machine. Who would have thought a taxi looked like that!

This seems an appropriate note to end on. You just paid over $300 for a book whose authors and publishers, knowing that this book was targeted entirely at graduate students, thought it reasonable to include a picture OF A WASHING MACHINE.

[Mackenzie Blackwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

We quite literally read the whole thing. How’s that for professional responsibility.

[Jace · Rating 2 out of 5]

The print was way too large in this book. Normally I would thank the publishers, because my eyesight is rapidly fading as a law student. But between the giant font and the worthless pictures, this book was twice as large (and twice as expensive) as it should have been. Basically, it's just a glorified restatement of the Model Rules. Nothing special here. Plus the class sucked.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very straightforward.
This book gives you the rules and tells you how to apply them. It does not play hide the ball with you.

[Pamela Cespedes]

If I had to read a whole textbook about legal ethics, I’m FOR SURE going to count it in my Goodreads goal. 😤😤

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only law textbook I think I'll ever read that has a cartoon nipple in it. I wish I was kidding. Two stars because it actually taught me a couple things.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent. I'm for sure getting credit for reading this.

[SK]

Bedtime stories for legal ethicists.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting textbook. Clear examples and tables. Good stories.

[Earl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Would not recommend this book. Read an E&E on PR, or watch some MPRE videos instead. This book is highly over priced for the value it delivers.