Real Ethics for Real Lawyers

Real Ethics for Real Lawyers is designed to teach professional responsibility courses using a lively, problem-centered approach. The author, Daniel Coquillette, the former Dean of Boston College Law School, is now the J. Donald Monan S.J. University Professor at Boston College and the Lester Kissel Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. He has served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics, as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and as an Advisor to the ALI Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers. For eight years he was also an associate, and then a partner, of a major Boston law firm.It is the author's experiences as a practicing lawyer that directs this book. Real Ethics for Real Lawyers presents the issues of professional responsibility the way students are most likely to encounter them in practice, in the context of real problems. This not only makes for stimulating classes, but also permits for subtle analysis of the relevant cases and rules at many levels. As a convenience to the students, the book features clear introductions to each chapter, and a selection of the most important rules, making a costly "rules supplement" unnecessary. Many of the most recent rule changes and cases are included.There is also an important emphasis on the "core" moral values and ethical underpinnings of the professional rules. As the author states in his introduction: "There are many courses in law school that are important to your future, but none as important as this one. Relying on your inherent sense of virtue will not save you from serious trouble is you are ignorant of what is in this book. Most courses are about honing your professional skills. This course is about professional survival.Some would also say it is about another kind of survival that is even more important. How do you survive as a true professional, in a tough professional world, and also survive as a person?" Concisely and provocatively written, and designed for a two or three hour a week course, Real Ethics for Real Lawyers fills an important gap in the current selection of professional responsibility casebooks.