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5 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 535 (1991-1992)
The Ethics or Employment Dilemma of in-House Counsel

handle is hein.journals/geojlege5 and id is 545 raw text is: The Ethics or Employment Dilemma of In-House Counsel GRACE M. GIESEL* After over one hundred years, the English criminal law case of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens1 remains a landmark case of American jurispru- dence. Dudley and Stephens found themselves lost at sea in a small boat with no water, very little food and two other men. On the twentieth day adrift, Dudley and Stephens killed Parker, the younger of the two other men, and fed upon him for four days. Then a passing ship rescued Dudley, Stephens and the third man.' The lords, reviewing the possible conviction for murder, agonized over their task. The lords did not feel comfortable imposing a murder conviction on these men when Dudley and Stephens chose a path that most or all individuals would select. Lord Coleridge stated that Dudley and Stephens were subject to terrible temptation, to sufferings which might break down the bodily power of the strongest man, and try the conscience of the best.'3 Even so, the court upheld the convic- tion and sentenced the men to death,' knowing that the Crown would re- duce the sentence to imprisonment for six months.5 In-house attorneys' understand the predicament of Dudley and Stephens when they face the dilemma of acting in accordance with the applicable rules of professional responsibility and perhaps losing their jobs. Alterna- tively, in-house attorneys can ignore the ethical mandates and subject themselves to an inferior professional stance and perhaps even professional discipline. Like attorneys in large firms and sole practitioners, in-house counsel must abide by the applicable rules of legal ethics or risk repri- Assistant Professor of Law, University of Louisville; B.A. 1982, Yale University; J.D., with dis- tinction, 1985, Emory University School of Law. 1. 14 Q.B.D. 273 (1884). See also LEO KATZ, BAD ACTS AND GUILTY MINDS: CONUNDRUMS OF THE CRIMINAL LAW 22-26 (1987) (discussing the facts of Dudley and Stephens and the conviction and release of Captain Thomas Dudley); Michael G. Mallin, In Warm Blood: Some Historical and Proce- dural Aspects of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, 34 U. CHI. L. REV. 387 (1967). 2. Dudley and Stephens, 14 Q.B.D. at 273-75. 3. Id. at 279. 4. Id. at 293. 5. See KATZ, supra note 1, at 25. 6. The phrases in-house counsel and in-house attorney refer to attorneys who work for private business organizations as employees. They have offices within the organization, receive a salary, and participate in other benefits as do other managerial employees. Such attorneys have only one client, the employer.

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