Training the Ethical Lawyer: A Rejoinder to Schneyer: [Reply/Rejoinder

Abstract

Is there a sick patient? I think that the real disagreement between Professor Schneyer and me is over whether there is a problem in the way professional responsibility courses traditionally are taught. My analysis is based on the observation that legal ethics classes often are viewed by teachers and, especially, students as neither useful nor effective. I suggest that courses which primarily emphasize teaching students the codes of professional responsibility are neglecting basic moral questions about the role of the lawyer that should be the focus of professional ethics classes. Schneyer apparently begins with the premise that there is no major problem with this part of the curriculum; his essay is an enthusiastic defense of current courses and casebooks.1 He explicitly defends the desirability of legal ethics courses that emphasize teaching the professional codes.2 This divergence in starting points explains our different views of the books I reviewed.3 I look at the books and see texts primarily directed to teaching the codes;4 books that do not adequately encourage students to question the moral duties of an attorney; books that disproportionately emphasize problems confronting the litigator; books that do not focus enough on examining the method of professional regulation. Schneyer looks at the books and generally likes what he sees. The few passages on the role of the attorney in socie-