PORTRAITS OF RESISTANCE: LAWYER RESPONSES TO UNJUST PROCEEDINGS

This article considers a question rarely addressed: What is the role of the lawyer in a manifestly unjust procedural regime? Many excellent studies have considered the role of the judge in unjust regimes, but the lawyer's role has been largely ignored. The analysis in this article draws on two...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:UCLA law review 2010-02, Vol.57 (3), p.725
Main Author: Lahav, Alexandra D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attorneys
Civil procedure
Injustice
Justice
Military tribunals
Roles
Studies
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article considers a question rarely addressed: What is the role of the lawyer in a manifestly unjust procedural regime? Many excellent studies have considered the role of the judge in unjust regimes, but the lawyer's role has been largely ignored. The analysis in this article draws on two case studies: that of lawyers representing civil rights leaders during protests in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s, and that of lawyers representing detainees facing proceedings before the military commissions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These portraits illuminate the strategies available to lawyers who face procedurally unjust tribunals operating within a larger liberal legal regime. The purpose of the article is to paint a landscape of US lawyer resistance to procedural injustice that can be used as a basis for further inquiry. The article considers hard questions about lawyer participation in unjust tribunals, such as whether lawyers who participate are complicit in injustice, and the consequences to the client and to society of lawyer resistance to injustice.
ISSN:0041-5650
1943-1724