Inside Professionalism: How in-House Counsel Can Give Practical Effect to the Ethical Responsibility to Society at Large When Reviewing Items for Form and Legal Sufficiency in a Manner That Supports the Integrity of the Representative Form of Governance of Public Corporations and Local Governments

Authors

R A. Cuevas, Jr.

First Page

177

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Messrs. Heineman, Jr., Lee, and Wilkins of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School have written on the need for lawyers to recognize that, as professionals and citizens, they owe ethical responsibilities to the rule of law, society at large, and the clients and institutions they represent. This Essay identifies a situation where a routine task performed by lawyers in the legal departments of public corporations and local governments can implicate this ethical responsibility owed to society at large. The lawyers' task is the review of documents and other items relating to their clients' operations for form and legal sufficiency.' There are instances when lawyers perform this review before the documents and other items are presented to the board of directors of a public corporation or the governing board of a local government for action. In such instances, these lawyers become a part of the governing board's decision-making process, which can implicate the ethical responsibility that these lawyers owe to society at large.

Recommended Citation

R A. Cuevas, Jr., Inside Professionalism: How in-House Counsel Can Give Practical Effect to the Ethical Responsibility to Society at Large When Reviewing Items for Form and Legal Sufficiency in a Manner That Supports the Integrity of the Representative Form of Governance of Public Corporations and Local Governments, 29 St. Thomas L. Rev. 177 (2017).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol29/iss2/5