Renewed Introspection and the Legal Profession

As the twentieth century draws to a close, the legal profession again immersed in a process of self-assessment, reflection, and reform. Operating on several fronts, various constituent elements of the bar have recently completed or have underway significant projects relating to the law of lawyering. Two efforts stand out in particular. For more than a decade, the American Law Institute has labored in the production of a new Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, and the organization stands now on the brink of that monumental work's publication. Equally significant, the American Bar Association has again undertaken a comprehensive review of the prevailing codification of legal ethics through the efforts of its Ethics 2000 Commission, which is gathering comments on the continued adequacy of the ABA's current Model Rules of Professional Conduct. This foreword to a symposium on professional responsibility explores the renewed introspection within the legal community.