Debate Over Moral Aspects of Lawyering Sparks After Stanford Law Incident

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!

• udge Stuart Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals attempted to give a lecture at Stanford Law School but was met with rude and wild behavior from the students who protested and showered invective, insults, and obscenities at him.
• The judge criticized the students for their lack of understanding of legal discourse and ethics and their abandonment of principle for ideology and agitprop.
• The article argues that Stanford Law School should consider teaching prospective lawyers the moral aspects of lawyering, including honesty, humility, and dedication to impartial, unpoliticized justice.

tanford Law School recently faced criticism after students shut down an attempted lecture by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge reported that he was met with rude and wild behavior from the students, who showered invective, insults, and obscenities at him.

The incident has prompted discussions about the state of legal education in the United States and the importance of teaching moral aspects of lawyering, including honesty, humility, and dedication to impartial, unpoliticized justice.

In his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Judge Duncan criticized the students for their lack of understanding of legal discourse and ethics. He noted that they showed “not the foggiest grasp of the basic concepts of legal discourse: That one must meet reason with reason, not power. That jeering contempt is the opposite of persuasion.

That the law protects the speaker from the mob, not the mob from the speaker.” He also expressed concern about the message being taught by the school’s bureaucracy, which he said was “proud that Stanford students are being taught that this is the way law should be.”

The incident at Stanford Law School has raised questions about legal education in the United States and the behavior expected of lawyers and officers of the court. The article argues that Stanford Law should consider teaching prospective lawyers the moral aspects of lawyering, not just the technical ones.

Honesty, humility, and dedication to impartial, unpoliticized justice should be emphasized to ensure that lawyers uphold the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers.

Source: theamericanspectator.com