Source: (2012) Nevada Law Journal 12(2)341-349.
In this year’s Saltman Lecture, Jennifer Gerarda Brown and Liana G.T.
Wolf argue that restorative justice models have much to offer a broken attorney
disciplinary system.
1
While their specific proposals are problematic for reasons
discussed more fully below, there is considerable merit to the authors’ larger
point that the lawyer disciplinary system could benefit from incorporating a
greater level of client participation. The authors point to a number of the benefits of a more client-participatory attorney disciplinary system, including the
opportunity for lawyers to better appreciate the consequences of their misconduct, the opportunity to focus on repairing the harm done to clients, and the
opportunity to restore the public’s faith in the fairness and legitimacy of the
legal system.
2
This Comment focuses primarily on an additional benefit that
might flow from more client-participatory attorney disciplinary proceedings: by
opening the disciplinary process to the perspectives of clients, the legal profession gets the opportunity to evolve more client-centered norms of professional
conduct (excerpt)
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