legal ethics

THEMES & ISSUES

As the Twentieth Century draws to a close there has been a marked resurgence of interest in the ethical challenges facing (post-)industrial societies and their institutions. The law in particular is expanding to become an all-pervasive feature of modern life, and so the ethical concerns of the law and of  legal practitioners are increasingly seen to be the ethical concerns of society at large.

Although the study of legal ethics and professional responsibility is well-established in North America, there has been much less discussion of the field elsewhere, particularly in the UK and continental Europe.

legal ethics is intended to fill this gap by providing a forum for wide-ranging debate on the ethical basis of law and its legal institutions and practices.

THEMES

Submissions are invited from scholars in any relevant discipline, from policymakers involved in higher or professional education or the design and delivery of legal services, and from practitioners interested in any of the following areas:

  jurisprudential or wider philosophical reflections on law as an ethical system and on the moral obligations of individual lawyers (including inter-professional comparisons)

 empirical research on the ethics and conduct of the legal profession(s) and other providers of legal services, including comparative and historical studies

 studies of legal ethics education and moral development

 studies of ethics developments in contemporary legal practice and the ethical responsibilities of  law schools, professional bodies and governments toward guaranteeing access to justice, equal opportunities and the rule of  law.

ETHICS IN PRACTICE

A distinctive feature of the journal is the Ethics in Practice section which provides a meeting point for the busy practitioner, the academic and others concerned with legal ethics in action. It will supplement the extended analysis of  the articles and longer reviews by offering an overview of selected topical issues with commentary from a variety of contributors, including

• legal practitioners

• regulators and policy-makers

• academics and trainers

• students and trainee lawyers

• consumers of legal services

• non-legal practitioners confronting similar dilemmas

As the section develops the editors hope to include responses to and updates on earlier contributions. In this way the section will offer a forum for debate and an opportunity to share contrasting perspectives.

BOOK REVIEWS

In addition, each issue will carry book reviews in the form either of short notices and/or a substantial review article. Publishers wishing to submit books for review in legal ethics should send them to the Reviews Editor, Richard O'Dair at University College London.

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