Lawyers' Bargaining Ethics, Contract, and Collaboration: The End of the Legal Profession and the Beginning of Professional Pluralism

Authors

Scott R. Peppet, University of Colorado Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication

Iowa Law Review

Year

2005

Citation Information

Scott R. Peppet, Lawyers' Bargaining Ethics, Contract, and Collaboration: The End of the Legal Profession and the Beginning of Professional Pluralism, 90 Iowa L. Rev. 475 (2005) (reprinted with permission), available at http://scholar.law.colorado.edu/articles/423/.

Abstract

This Article combines contractarian economics and traditional ethical theory to argue for a radical revision of the legal profession's codes of ethics. That revision would end the legal profession as we know it-one profession, regulated by one set of ethical rules that apply to all lawyers regardless of circumstance. It would replace the existing uniform conception of the lawyer's role with a more heterogeneous profession in which lawyers and clients could contractually choose the ethical obligations under which they wanted to operate. This "contract model" of legal ethics, in which lawyers could opt in and out of various ethical constraints, would lead to greater efficiencies, greater satisfaction for attorneys and clients, and greater vitality for the legal profession.

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