Copyright (c) 2008 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss Recent documents in William J Chriss en-us Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:45:43 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss/14 http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss/14 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:26:41 PDT This article argues that the moral teaching contained within early Christian wisdom literature that has only recently been translated into English can be adapted to provide sound advice to lawyers on how to behave ethically and professionally. The content of that advice might surprise religious zealots of various stripes who are unfamiliar with patristic literature. The focus of the Christian thinkers described herein below was neither righteousness nor victory over the unbelieving. It was the inner struggle for dispassion, virtue, and clarity of vision, concepts more often associated in the popular mind with Buddhism and other eastern wisdom traditions than with Christianity. William J. Chriss Ethics and the Legal Profession Philosophy/Theology http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss/13 http://works.bepress.com/william_chriss/13 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:39:28 PDT Imagine a world in which everyone is at risk of prosecution but blissfully unaware of it until the police break down the door. This is the world that Franz Kafka foresaw in his 1925 book, The Trial, a disorienting tale of one man's indictment for crimes that no one in authority could explain or even identify. It is my thesis here that lawyers have something to learn from Kafka's cautionary tale. Although fortunately The Trial remains an exaggeration, it is not paranoia to tread carefully in a world of ever more proliferating regulation, especially regulation in the form of the criminal law. Attorney conduct that was once viewed as merely risking a colorable malpractice suit or a possible grievance can now land you in jail for twenty years. As we abide in this brave new world, lawyers would be well-advised to learn at least some of the new ways penal statutes have been, or might be, applied to them under the right, or perhaps better said, the wrong, circumstances. William J. Chriss Ethics and the Legal Profession Criminal Law