Voice of Justice
Reclaiming the First Amendment Rights of Lawyers

This book shows that securing attorney First Amendment rights protects the justice system by safeguarding client interests and checking government power.

Margaret Tarkington (Author)

9781316600986, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 September 2018

294 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

'From overarching theory to specific real-world contexts, 'Voice of Justice: Reclaiming the First Amendment Rights of Lawyers' by Margaret Tarkington (Professor of Law at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law) provides a critical resource for lawyers, judges, and scholars to understand the relationship between the First Amendment rights of lawyers and the integrity of the justice system. Impressively informative, expertly written, accessibly organized and presented, 'Voice of Justice' is unreservedly recommended for law firm, college, and university library Judicial Studies collections in general, and the personal reading lists of practicing attorneys, law students, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject in particular.' Library Bookwatch

The First Amendment rights of lawyers are ethereal. Most lawyers fail to realize that courts may deny them access to the First Amendment's protective shield in many regulatory and disciplinary contexts. Overall, attorneys cannot and should not assume that they can obtain First Amendment protection - especially when acting as an attorney in their role as an 'officer of the court'. Yet, it is precisely in the lawyering context - where attorneys engage in speech, association, and petitioning for the very purpose of securing client rights, invoking law, enabling the judicial power, and obtaining justice - that the need for First Amendment protection is the most acute. If regulators silence that voice, they silence justice. From overarching theory to specific real-world contexts, this illuminating book provides a critical resource for lawyers, judges, and scholars to understand the relationship between the First Amendment rights of lawyers and the integrity of the justice system.

Introduction
Part I. Understanding The Puzzle: 1. Do lawyers have First Amendment rights?
2. 'Speech is all we have'
3. Self-regulation: myth and reality
4. Attorneys as officers of the court and delegates of state power
Part II. Towards A Proper Methodology: 5. Core ideals of the First Amendment
6. Cognate inseparable rights
7. The access to justice theory
Part III. Protecting The Role Of The Attorney: 8. Freedom to form an attorney-client relationship
9. Safeguarding client counseling and confidences
10. Invoking law and processes to protect client interests
11. Safeguarding and impugning judicial integrity
12. Securing criminal constitutional processes
13. Uncompromised pretrial publicity
14. Attorney civility, harassment, and discrimination.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Legal skills & practice [LAS], Law [L]