The Future of Legal Ethics
![handle is hein.journals/ylr100 and id is 1253 raw text is: The Future of Legal Ethics
Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr.t
The practice of law deals mostly with the getting and keeping of money.
-An Old Lawyer
I. INTRODUCrION
A. The Crisis in Legal Ethics
Dissatisfaction with lawyers is a chronic grievance,1 and inspires periodic
calls for reform.2 Nevertheless, the contemporary problems of the American
legal profession seem to run deeper than in the past. There are more lawyers
today, both proportionately and absolutely, than at any other time in recent
history.' There is much greater public consciousness of lawyers' work, which
is now the subject of regular coverage in newspapers, magazines, and television
t Sterling Professor of Law, Yale University. I am grateful for the help of my colleague Professor
Susan P. Koniak, of the University of Pittsburgh, in connecting some of the links in the present analysis.
I also much appreciate the excellent work of John D'Amato, Yale Law School '91, in compiling source
references.
1. An oft-cited expression of dissatisfaction with the administration ofjustice is contained in R. POUND,
The Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Administration of Justice, in ROSCOE POUND AND CRIlNAL
JUSTICE 57 (1965). The classic statement of hostility toward lawyers is by Shakespeare: the first thing we
do, let's kill all the lawyers. Henry VI, Pt. II, Act W, scene ii, line 86.
2. See, e.g., LAW IN A CHANGING AMERICA (G. Hazard ed. 1968); Bok, A Flawed System of Law
Practice and Training, 33 1. LEGAL EDUC. 570 (1983); .. . In the Spirit of Public Service: A Blueprint
for the Rekindling of Lawyer Professionalism, 112 F.R.D. 243 (1986) [hereinafter ABA Blueprint for
Professionalism] (collecting papers from 1968 Conference on Access to Justice). In 1900, the profession
responded to reformists' demands by founding the Association of American Law Schools, designed to
improve the legal profession by establishing higher standards for legal education. Articles of Association
Adopted at Saratoga, N.Y., August 28,1900, Art. 1, PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW
SCHOOLS 1900-1905 (n.d.). In 1908, the American Bar Association promulgated its Canons of Professional
Ethics, which contemplated the improvement of the legal profession by the clarification and enforcement
of its norms. ABA CANONS OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS Preamble (1936).
3. In 1950 there were approximately 176,000 lawyers and judges; in 1970, 260,000; and in 1987, an
estimated 707,000. STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES 230 (86th ed. 1965); id. at 373 (97th
ed. 1976); id. at 388 (109th ed. 1989). This computes to 11.6 lawyers and judges per 10,000 in the
population in 1950, 12.7 in 1970, and 29.0 in 1987-a dramatic increase. See id. at 402 (102d ed. 1981);
id. at 18 (109th ed. 1989).
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The Future of Legal Ethics
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