Be Aware of Ethical Witness Preparation Rules

Back in 1880, the New York Court of Appeals, in In re: Eldridge,1 suspended a lawyer for writing out answers for witnesses. In its holding, the Court said that a lawyer’s duty is to extract the facts from the witness, not pour them into him; to learn what the witness does know, not teach him what … Read more

Should Lawyers Be Free to Publicly Excoriate Judges?

Copyright (c) 1997 Hofstra Law Review Association; Hal R. Lieberman “[J]unk justice.“1 “‘[R]acist.”’2 “ “[A]nti-semitism.”’3 Appellate judges are “‘the whores who became madams.”’4 “‘[S] onofabitch.”’5 Inflammatory attacks on judges and the judiciary, like the foregoing lawyers’ comments reported in the press, are becoming more common. Should such remarks be tolerated under the First Amendment, or … Read more