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73 Tex. L. Rev. 335 (1994-1995)
Federalizing Legal Ethics

handle is hein.journals/tlr73 and id is 353 raw text is: Federalizing Legal Ethics Fred C. Zacharias* Traditionally, states have established and enforced their own ethical standards for the legal profession. The rules vary from state to state and, in some cases, directly conflict. Professor Zacharias predicts that pressure to adopt a uniform code of ethics will increase with the increasingly national character of the legalprofession. Professor Zacharias also argues that the public perception of lawyers might improve if lawyers were subject to one set of ethical rules rather than a multitude of contradictory stan- dards. In addition, Professor Zacharias considers the arguments against federalizing legal ethics, focusing primarily on issues offederalism and the cost of switching from a state to a national system of enforcement. Beyond the question of whether Congress should federalize legal ethics is the question of how it should do it. Professor Zacharias focuses on what areas of legal ethics would be appropriate forfederal regulation and, given political constraints, what Congress realistically could achieve. Professor Zacharias considers the merits and the likelihood of adoption not only of a comprehensive federal code and system of enforce- ment, but also a federal code to be enforced by the states, a federal code that would apply only in federal courts, and a limitedfederal code designed to alleviate the largest areas of conflict among the states while leaving the bulk of regulation and enforcement to the states. Finally, Professor Zacharias identifies alternative methods of achieving uniformity in professional regulation in the event Congress continues to stay its hand. I. Background ................................. 338 A. The Recent History of the Regulation of Lawyers ...... 338 B. The Recent History of the Legal Profession ......... 341 C. The Effects of the Regulatory History and Changes in the Profession ............................... 344 II. The Justifications for Federalizing the Codes ........... 345 A. The Nationalization of the Practice of Law ......... 345 B. The Increase in Multistate Litigation ............. 354 * Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law. B.A. 1974, Johns Hopkins Univer- sity; J.D. 1977, Yale University; LL.M. 1981, Georgetown University. The author thanks Linda Laidig and Sarah Stubbe for their research assistance, Professors Lawrence Alexander, Kevin Cole, Stephen Walt, and Chris Wonnell for their comments on drafts, and Sharon Soroko for her personal and technical help.

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