Lying Clients and Legal Ethics: The Attorney's Unsolved Dilemma
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Porter, Karen Meyer
Issue Date
1983
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|The attorney who is confronted with client perjury faces legal and ethical dangers. The client's crime may expose the attorney to criminal charges of subornation. Even where the attorney's participation falls short of criminal jeopardy, the attorney encounters an ethical dilemma arising from the conflict between duty to client and duty to court. The professional standards of conduct do not provide any clear and consistent guidelines for the attorney to follow. Case law is divided on the subject, especially when the perjury occurs in the course of a criminal trial.|This comment analyzes two civil and two criminal cases addressing client perjury where the problem is treated in four distinct ways. Discussions of the professional standards of conduct and of constitutional repercussions are interwoven with the analysis of these cases. The comment reviews the current professional standards of conduct-which fail to resolve the perjury problem and examines the conflict between the professional standards and constitutional considerations...
Description
Citation
16 Creighton L. Rev. 487 (1982-1983)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law