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Article
The Culture of Legal Denial
UF Law Faculty Publications
  • Jonathan R. Cohen, University of Florida Levin College of Law
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2005
OCLC FAST subject heading
Dispute resolution (Law)
Abstract

The goals of this essay are twofold. The first is to examine critically the practice of lawyers assisting clients in denying harms they commit and suggest some ways of changing that practice. Lawyers commonly presume that their clients' interests are best served by denial. Yet such a presumption is not warranted. Given the moral, psychological, relational, and sometimes even economic risks of denial to the injurer, lawyers should consider discussing responsibility taking more often with clients. The second is to explore several structural or systemic factors that may reinforce the practice of denial seen day in and day out within our legal system.

Citation Information
Jonathan R. Cohen, The Culture of Legal Denial, 84 Neb. L. Rev. 247 (2005), available at http://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/facultypub/39