I. Introduction

• Library: Professional Responsibility in Litigation (ABA) (2016 Ed.)

I. Introduction

Perjury is a perplexing professional responsibility subject. This is especially true where a client testifies falsely. On one hand, perjury is a crime and it is therefore wrong for lawyers to suborn or even tolerate it. Lawyers' duty to represent clients diligently does not extend to offering false testimony. Perjured testimony threatens the fair administration of justice and seriously undermines the rule of law. False testimony that does not qualify as the crime of perjury may have the same effects. On the other hand, it is not lawyers' role to determine the truth—that is courts' and jurors' role. For that matter, how are lawyers supposed to know what the "truth" is when presented with conflicting witness testimony and disputed issues of fact? Unless clients admit to lying or state an intention to do so, how do lawyers know whether dubious or inconsistent testimony is the product of dishonesty or a different perception?

Certainly, "even the most inexperienced lawyer knows that he or she should not elicit false...