Fighting Fair
Legal Ethics for an Adversarial Age

This book draws an extended analogy with military theory to propose a new model for legal ethics.

Allan C. Hutchinson (Author)

9781107539709, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 July 2015

144 pages
21.5 x 14 x 1 cm, 0.21 kg

'Fighting Fair offers a highly original and insightful analysis of contemporary legal ethics. Drawing on the metaphor that 'litigation is war', Allan Hutchinson measures lawyers' tactics by that standard and finds them lacking. Building on military ethics and theories of just war, this book challenges our conventional wisdom on lawyers' moral responsibility and offers an imaginative alternative.' Deborah L. Rhode, E. W. McFarland Professor of Law and Director, Center on the Legal Profession, Stanford University, California

Along with used car dealers and telemarketers, lawyers are considered to be among the least trustworthy of all professionals. If lawyers want more respect, they will have to earn it by reframing their ethical responsibilities. In an original approach to law's moral dilemma, legal theorist Allan C. Hutchinson takes seriously the idea that 'litigation is war'. By drawing an extended analogy with the theory of ethical warfare, he examines the most difficult questions facing practicing lawyers today. Comparing the role of military officers to legal professionals and theories of just peace to legal settlement, Hutchinson outlines a boldly original approach to legal ethics. Fighting Fair's recommendation for a more substantive, honor-based approach to ethics will be a thought-provoking tool for anyone concerned about the moral standing of the legal profession.

1. An opening salvo
2. The professional project
3. A theoretical excursion
4. The standard model
5. Taking war ethically
6. In the name of just ends
7. Fighting fair
8. Towards a just peace
9. Not-so-final thoughts.

Subject Areas: Legal skills & practice [LAS]