Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
Each lawyer in the United States must take an oath to be licensed to practice law. The first time a lawyer takes this oath is usually a momentous occasion in their career, marked by ceremony and celebration. Yet, many lawyer’s oaths today are unremarkable and irrelevant to modern law practice at best, and at worst, inappropriate, discriminatory, and obsolete. Drawing on a fifty-state survey of lawyer’s oaths in the United States, this article argues that it is past time to update lawyer’s oaths in the United States and suggests drawing on human rights to make lawyer’s oaths more accessible and impactful.
Recommended Citation
Bartlett, Lauren, Human Rights and Lawyer’s Oaths. Saint Louis U. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2023-01, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, v. XXXVI 2023