Book Reviews : Lawyers' Ethics, A Survey of the New York City Bar. By JEROME E. CARLIN. (New York: Russel Sage Foundation, 1966. Pp. 234. $6.00.)
| Author | George F. Cole |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296601900417 |
| Date | 01 December 1966 |
| Published date | 01 December 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
739
Lawyers’
Ethics,
A
Survey
of
the
New
York
City
Bar.
By
JEROME
E.
CARLIN.
(New
York:
Russel
Sage
Foundation,
1966.
Pp. 234.
$6.00.)
Following
his
important
investigation
of
solo
practitioners
described
in
Law-
yers
on
Their
Own,
Jerome
E.
Carlin
has
extended
his
interest
in
lawyers
to
a
study
of
the
role
played
by
professional
ethics
in
maintaining
norms
among
mem-
bers
of
the
New
York
metropolitan
bar.
Carlin’s
study
will
be
of
interest
not
only
to
social scientists
concerned
with
deviant
behavior,
but
it
is
also
an
important
contribution
to
the
work
of
those
political
scientists
interested
in
developing
a
greater
understanding
of
the
process
by
which
the
community
allocates
justice.
Using
a
sample
of
approximately
eight
hundred
lawyers,
drawn
from
a
uni-
verse
defined
as
those
attorneys
practicing
in
the
central
business
district
of
New
York
City,
Carlin
observes
that
the
maintenance
of
professional
ethics
is
structured
by
both
the
background
of
the
individual
and
his
type
of
practice.
Differential
factors
such
as
the
quality
of
legal
education,
the
opportunity
for
violations
of
norms,
the
impact
of
peer
reinforcement
of
the
code,
as
well
as
the
practitioner’s
inner
disposition,
have
an
impact
on
the
probability
that
an
attorney
will
violate
the
ethics
of
his
profession.
It
is
discouraging
to
note
that
in
those
areas
where
clients
are
&dquo;disadvantaged&dquo;
because
of
their
economic
and
social
position
that
the
impact
of
ethics
governing
the
legal
practitioner
is
weakest.
It
is
among
those
lawyers,
described
by
Carlin
as
occupying
the
lower
echelon
of
the
bar
who
must
work
with
a
&dquo;shifting
base
of
clientele
characterized
by
short
and
weak
attachments,
and
from
whom
he
gets
relatively
little
continuing
business,&dquo;
that
the
professional
norms
are
the
least
observed
and
enforced.
As
in
his
earlier
work,
Carlin
describes
the
unhappy
lot
of
the
lawyers
who,
because
of
their
education
and
background,
are
unable
to
enjoy
the
rewards
allo-
cated
to
those
attorneys
who
are
members
of
the
&dquo;elite
bar.&dquo;
He
notes
that
the
&dquo;best
trained,
most
technically
skilled,
and
ethically
most
responsible&dquo;
lawyers
are
those
that
compose
this
elite
group
serving
the
upper
echelons
of business
and
society.
A
vast
proportion
(64
per
cent
of
Carlin’s
sample)
of
the
legal
profession,
however,
works
at
the
fringe,
often
resorting
to
the
use
of
guile,
political
con-
nections,
and
unethical
practices,
not
only
to
obtain
clients,
but
also
to
be
successful
in
their
careers.
It
is
this
group,
condemned
to
haunt
the
lower-level
courts,
repre-
senting
a
lower
class
of
clients,
and
dealing
with
officials
connected
with
the
admin-
istration
of
justice,
who
are,
unhappily,
often
ready
to
use
the
system
for
their
personal
gain.
Lawyers,
as
principal
actors
in
the
judicial
process,
must,
of
necessity,
come
under
the
scrutiny
of
the
political
scientist.
Carlin
found
that
5
per
cent
of
his
sample
worked
directly
for
government,
while
a
much
larger
group
interacts
on
a
continuing
basis
with
other
participants
in
the
judicial
process:
prosecutors,
mem-
bers
of
the
bench,
and
police
officials.
This
study
indicates
that
lawyers
at
the
fringes
of
their
profession
are
most
susceptible
to
violations
of
professional
ethics.
They
are
also
those
attorneys
most
concerned
with
the
local
administration
of
justice.
Thus,
there
may
be
question
about
the
quality
of
the
justice
they
dispense.
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