Lawyers' Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice: A Critical Reader (Critical America) [Hardcover]

Susan Carle (Editor), Robert W. Gordon (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2005 | Series: Critical America

Legal ethics should be far more than a set of rules on professional responsibility; they can serve as a means for changing power relations, empowering the disenfranchised, and advocating progressive social change. Lawyers’ Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice broadens the discussion on legal ethics by first introducing the historical and theoretical background and then connecting it to real world issues while addressing lawyers' ethical obligations to work for social justice.

The reader features differing critical approaches and opens up new avenues of ethical debate. While the literature included is diverse and interdisciplinary, it shares a vision of legal ethical inquiry as a means for changing power relations, empowering the disenfranchised, and advocating progressive social change. Through a combination of provocative selections, lively writing, concrete examples of cases and social movements, and incisive editorial commentary, Lawyers ’Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice defines the emergence of an exciting new field of critical legal ethics scholarship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Susan Carle has done an extraordinary service. Her collection is sophisticated, challenging, and desperately needed. The legal academy is often sadly prone to treat the ethics of lawyering as an afterthought or a necessary nuisance. This smart collection of critical essays gives the subject the serious attention it deserves.”
-Peggy Cooper Davis,New York University School of Law

“Carle has put together an important collection of readings. This book will be a valuable addition to any course on the legal profession.”
-David Wilkins,Harvard Law School

“Susan Carle’s book brings together the best writings on the more visionary and justice-seeking goals of the legal profession. Lawyers should serve society, clients at large, as well as clients in need. This book will be assigned reading in courses devoted to lawyering and social justice—it should be required reading for all legal professionals.”
-Carrie Menkel-Meadow,Georgetown University Law Center

“Lawyers and law students alike will benefit from this volume's strong and persuasive reminder that traditional ‘good'’lawyering and a moral commitment to social justice can walk hand in hand. Teachers who want to remind students of why they came to law school—to leave the world a better place than they found it—will find this book a great asset.”
-Richard Zitrin,author of Legal Ethics in the Practice of Law

About the Author

Susan D. Carle is professor of law at Washington College of Law, American University in Washington, D.C.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 442 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (August 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814716393
• ISBN-13: 978-0814716397
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,985,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for lawyers, October 4, 2005

By 

Axel Rayhorn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lawyers' Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice: A Critical Reader (Critical America (New York University Paperback)) (Paperback)

I am not a lawyer and I don't much like lawyers, but I picked this book up in my local book store and I was amazed. It actually discusses the ways in which some lawyers have understood their work as a way of furthering social justice. I loved the parts about how lawyers helped the NAACP achieve civil rights for African-Americans, and also the parts about how lawyers have developed theories that connect lawyering with civil rights, feminism, critical race theory and poverty rights. If more lawyers thought this way, we'd have a much more just society. The introduction says the book is intended in part for use in law school in lawyers' ethics classes, and I hope it is used for this. But it is fascinating reading for nonlawyers interested in law and social justice too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of essays for teaching, December 16, 2005

By 

K. Kruse (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lawyers' Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice: A Critical Reader (Critical America (New York University Paperback)) (Paperback)

This volume is a welcome addition to the teaching materials on legal ethics. It pulls together a diverse collection of important writing on the subject of lawyers and social justice. It includes both older "classics" and newer emerging voices and perspectives. And it includes writing from a range of academic perspectives--legal history, moral philosophy, critical theory, and clinical scholarship--that are rarely pulled together in one place. Although each selection is severely edited, they are packaged and juxtaposed in ways that distill the different perspectives represented by each author. As a result, the collection presents the deeper questions that legal ethicists are asking to the reader in a way that makes the questions both accessible and challenging. The introductory material and discussion questions that frame each section are thoughtful and provocative. As someone who teaches law students in both legal ethics classes and in hands-on clinical courses, I am very pleased to see this book and can't wait to use it, because I think it will provide a perfect vehicle for helping my students think about their professional roles and responsibilities as lawyers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellant Read for anyone interested in law's role in the pursuit of justice, December 20, 2005

By 

PDB (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lawyers' Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice: A Critical Reader (Critical America (New York University Paperback)) (Paperback)

This is by far the best book on the subject primarily because of the careful attention paid to presenting a broad variety of perspectives on and strategies for achieving justice. Taken as whole this book is a great historical road map of the various ways lawyers have participated in bettering the material conditions of the lives of the underrepresented and marginalized. This is the perfect book for anyone who is interested in the law and social change.