Law's Penal-Professional World Order

Authors

Pilar Margarita Hernández Escontrías, Seattle University School of Law

Keywords

carceral logic; discipline; self-regulation; attorney misconduct; ethics; professional misconduct; surveillance; penal state; legal profession; professional responsibility

Abstract

The attorney discipline regime has been propagandized as a necessary mechanism to police poor attorney conduct to protect the public. According to this myth, professional associations investigate attorney misconduct and impose sanctions, thus protecting the “noble profession” from attorneys who would tarnish its reputation. Violations of ethics rules lead to investigation, prosecution, and punishment by the state bar. In structure and language, state bars and judicial officers replicate the state in their use of disciplinary frameworks and regimes.

The self-regulating bar is a form of punitive governance used by the state to control entry into and expulsion from the profession. State bars deploy the traditional violence of the state: surveillance, policing, and punishment. Informed by carceral logics and free from oversight, state bars can abuse their power. In this way, the legal profession—like the state—advances a penal world order.

Recommended Citation

Pilar Margarita Hernández Escontrías, Law's Penal-Professional World Order, 94 Fordham L. Rev. 1321 (2026).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol94/iss4/5