Lawyers Crossing Lines: Nine Stories [Paperback]

James L. Kelley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0890896038 | ISBN-13: 978-0890896037

This book is a collection of true stories about lawyers who broke the rules ended up being sued for malpractice, disbarred, or prosecuted. Intended as supplemental reading for students in professional responsibility, ethics, or lawyering classes, it contains stories that come directly from the courtroom, revealing the gritty realities of lawyers in trouble. Each narrative was selected by several criteria: whether it raised significant issues of legal ethics; whether it would lend itself to good classroom discussion; and whether there was an interesting tale to be drawn from the trial record. The stories make fascinating and memorable reading and are an effective tool for conveying the principles of legal ethics and responsibility. This unique book - no other book on professional responsibility takes Kelley's storytelling approach - will be an important addition to the field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is a perfect supplement to the study of professional responsibility and should not be limited to use by students. Practitioners would be wise to read these stories and remind themselves of what could happen if they are not careful." --Legal Information ALERT, June 2001

"I believe this book would appeal to a wide audience: students, with and without a law background, practicing attorneys and anyone with an interest in ethical-legal issues. Kelley does an excellent job . . . Each story is a thought provoking narrative, guaranteed to entertain and educate." --Bimonthly Review of Law Books March/April 2002

About the Author

James L. Kelley is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Law.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890896038
• ISBN-13: 978-0890896037
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,124,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating tales of wrongdoing, December 10, 2001

By 

Julian P Killingley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lawyers Crossing Lines: Nine Stories (Paperback)

I rate this book very highly indeed. Whilst it is clearly targeted at lawyers and law students, James Kelley has not gone down the traditional route of producing a legal ethics/professional responsibility casebook - and his book is all the more likely to be read from cover to cover for that.

Kelley notes that while the majority of disciplinary actions are taken against solo practitioners for defalcations and neglect of clients' affairs, these topics do not generally raise difficult ethical issues or lend themselves to law school discussion. Nevertheless, in a series of case studies he does deal with a couple of issues that regularly dog the reputations of private client law firms.

In one he looks at an egregious case of ineffective assistance of counsel. In his comments, Kelley raises a number of telling points about bad representation (one of the defense counsel in this capital murder case was unable to cite a single court decision on criminal law!) and shows how prosecutors and judges connive at bad representation to uphold death penalty verdicts. When the book went to press the 11th Circuit's verdict was still awaited - in Fugate v Head (2001)they upheld the district court's denial of habeas corpus.

In another case study Kelley examines the ethical issues surrounding ambulance chasing - in this case involving a very able lawyer whose business practices were clearly felt to be demeaning by his rivals. References to the film 'Eric Brockovich' in the Comments section adds a pleasing topical spin to the case.

However, the majority of the case studies involve issues faced by in-house counsel or larger commercial law firms. It is too easy to think that falling foul of the Bar Disciplinary Committee is the privilege of the solo or small law firm. Kelley shows that even nationally renowned law firms can get themsleves in a terrible mess when the partners' eyes are on profits rather than ethics. He instances some breathtaking examples of stupidity/cupidity and shows that even when a matter is drawn to the attention of a large firm's in-house ethics committee, sense does not always prevail. All too often the comittees seem to have applied backward chaining logic working from a desired result, i.e. continuing to represent a highly profitable client, and produced an ex post facto rationalization of unethical conduct. On the contrary the firm should have forward chained from the rules and principles and withdrawn.

All the case studies are intrinsically interesting and Kelley does an excellent job of condensing complex facts and highlighting ethical problems. Law professors will find that there is also an excellent teacher's manual available from the publishers that offers considerable added value. All in this is succinct, entertaining and instructive - an uncommon combination of virtues in a book aimed at law schools!