Civil Disobedience and the Lawyer's Obligation to the Law

Lawyers work with, under, for, and around the law as their professional livelihood.Lawyers are called "officers of the court," "officers of the law," and "ministers," and swear allegiance to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.'Even the title "lawyer" reinforces the relationship between the person and the law.The very nature of law binds the lawyer to the content of law because, as every lawyer knows, the law is not a series of set rules plucked from universal concepts of right and good.Rather, law is an ongoing process that reflects shifting societal views. 2 This ever changing nature of the law forces lawyers to be active participants in the shaping of law. 3 Because the lawyer plays a significant role in the shaping of law and benefits materially from and has special knowledge of the law, scholars and aspirational codes assert strongly and persuasively that the lawyer has special obligations both to uphold the law and to strive to make the law just.