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A Plea for Moral Education in Law Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2016

Donald C. Mulcahey
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Extract

The ABA Model Rules clearly recognize a professional and moral dilemma. While indicating that a “lawyer's responsibilities as an officer of the legal system, a representative of clients and a public citizen are usually harmonious,” the Model Rules also recognize that

in the nature of law practice, … conflicting responsibilities are encountered. Virtually all difficult ethical problems arise from conflicts between a lawyer's responsibilities to clients, to the legal system, and to the lawyer's own interest in remaining an upright person while earning a satisfactory living …. These issues must be resolved through the exercise of sensitive professional and moral judgment guided by the basic principles underlying the Rules.

While the professional and moral dilemma of the practicing lawyer is one aspect of the problem, the other aspect is the response of legal educators to this dilemma. The Model Rules note that the resolution of conflict calls for the “sensitive exercise of professional and moral judgment ….” For the most part legal educators attempt to instill professional judgment in their students but ignore the equally important goal of enhancing the moral judgment of their students.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , 1984 , pp. 101 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 1994

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References

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