Professor John P. Sahl serves as Faculty Director of the Joseph G. Miller and William C. Becker Institute for Professional Responsibility, and is a fellow of both the Intellectual Property and Constitutional Law Centers. His research includes professional ethics, legal malpractice, lawyer discipline, judicial ethics and administration, and sports and entertainment law. He is a frequent national and international speaker, consultant and expert witness on professional responsibility matters. Professor Sahl received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston College; J.D. from Vermont Law School; LL.M. from Yale University; and DAAD Certificate from Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. He served as senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights. Sahl clerked for the chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and managed business and legal affairs for Ambience, Inc. Prior to joining the Akron Law faculty in 1991, he was deputy dean of the University of Bridgeport School of Law (now Quinnipiac University School of Law). He has also served as an adjunct professor at Yale University and the Touro College Law School, as well as a visiting professor at CEIDA Institute in Rome, Italy. He is admitted to practice in Connecticut and Ohio, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Tenth Circuits. Professor Sahl’s memberships include the American, Ohio, Cleveland and Akron Bar Associations, as well as the OSBA Future of the Legal Profession Advisory Committee. He was recently appointed for a three-year term to the ABA Standing Committee on Professional Discipline and is also a member of the Executive Committee of the AALS Professional Responsibility Section. Professor Sahl is Chair of the Publications Board of Editors for the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility and serves on the Center’s Michael Franck Professional Responsibility Award Selection Committee. His most recent book contribution is A 2009 Update: What Every Entertainment Lawyer Needs to Know - How to Avoid Being the Target of Legal Malpractice Claim or Disciplinary Action, COUNSELING CLIENTS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY 2009, 11-50 (2009). He also recently published, Thinking About Leaving? The Ethics of Departing One Firm for Another, 13 Prof. Law 2. (2008).
Law Review Articles
Thinking about Leaving? The Ethics of Departing One Firm for Another, Professional Lawyer (2008)
Lawyers today increasingly change jobs, suggesting to some that lawyer movement is becoming the norm....
The Cost of Humanitarian Assistance: Ethical Rules and the First Amendment, Saint Mary's Law Journal (2003)
For many Americans, the choice between affording legal assistance--a luxury item--and covering basic living expenses...
The Public Hazard of Lawyer Self-Regulation: Learning From Ohio's Struggle to Reform Its Disciplinary System, University of Cincinnati Law Review (1999)
This article examines the problem of lawyer discipline through the prism of Ohio's disciplinary system....
From Grievance and Complaint to Sanction: Understanding & Bearing the Burden, University of Dayton Law Review (1998)
Lawyers across the nation are increasingly confronted by the chilling prospect of being accused of...
Secret Discipline in the Federal Courts - Democratic Values and Judicial Integrity at Stake, Notre Dame Law Review (1994)
This article examines the arguments in favor of a confidential federal judicial discipline process and...
Contributions to Books
A 2009 Update: What Every Entertainment Lawyer Needs to Know-- How to Avoid Being the Target of a Legal Malpractice Claim or Disciplinary Action, Counseling Clints in the Entertainment Industry (2009)
There is significant risk today that lawyers will become the target of a disciplinary or...
What Every Entertainment Lawyer Needs to Know - How to Avoid Being the Target of Legal Malpractice Claim or Disciplinary Action, Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry (2007)
There is significant risk today that lawyers will become the target of a disciplinary or...
What Every Entertainment Lawyer Needs to Know - How to Avoid Being the Target of Legal Malpractice Claim or Disciplinary Action, Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry (2006)
There is significant risk today that lawyers will become the target of a disciplinary or...
Entertainment Law Ethics (with Kenneth J. Abdo), Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry (2005)
Entertainment law is a highly competitive area of practice, involving a myriad of roles and...
Entertainment Law Ethics (with Kenneth J. Abdo), Counseling Clients in the Entertainment Industry (2004)
Entertainment law is a highly competitive area of practice, involving a myriad of roles and...
Professional Journal Articles
Entertainment Law Ethics: Part 2 Agents, Managers and Lawyers (with Kenneth J. Abdo) (2005)
The practice of entertainment law is quite broad. It includes litigators, estate planners, tax professionals,...
Entertainment Law Ethics: Part 1 The First of a Series on Ethics for Entertainment Lawyers (with Kenneth J. Abdo) (2004)
Entertainment lawyers who aggressively represent clients often test the limits of permissible professional conduct by...
Helping Clients with Living Expenses: “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished (2002)
First, this article briefly reviews the origins of and reasons for the ban on lawyers...