Keywords
professional conduct, professional ethics, federal practice, state practice, federal conflicts, professional standards, professional responsibility, choice of law, Model Code of Professional Responsibility
Abstract
The standards for resolving putative conflicts between federal laws are not always clear, and neither for that matter is the standard for determining what con- stitutes a federal law capable of superseding effect. The technique of setting federal norms of professional conduct on a decentralized basis by borrowing or incorporating state norms is increasingly trouble- some to the extent that the borrowed state norms are disuniform and that they are being put to multiple remedial purposes. Federal legisla- tion preempting state law of professional conduct is conceivable but hardly likely, particularly as the norms are pressed into duty for pur- poses other than professional discipline. Pending other steps that might lead to national uniformity, the answer for the federal courts may be a uniform set of norms directly regulating litigation conduct in all federal courts.
Recommended Citation
Stephen B. Burbank,
State Ethical Codes and Federal Practice: Emerging Conflicts and Suggestions for Reform,
19 Fordham Urb. L.J. 969
(1992).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ulj/vol19/iss4/3