Counseling at the Limits of the Law: An Exercise in the Jurisprudence and Ethics of Lawyering

Abstract

Lawyers frequently face situations in which providing accurate advice about the law may well assist a client in violating that law. This Article considers what the ethical or legal guides or limits ought to be for a lawyer confronting this problem. Professor Pepper identifies a number of distinctions that might provide guidance, and explores the jurisprudential and ethical complications those distinctions entail. Although these factors rarely provide a determinate answer, they do provide a useful structure for analysis. Because clear answers are rare, Professor Pepper suggests supplementing the analytic structure with the process of a lawyer-client counseling conversation.