elsewhere in the blawgosphere (January 17, 2010)

John Flood revisits the classic question: is the law a business or profession?    . . . .    Mike Downey, at Hinshaw's The Ethical Quandary, looks at a UK report that suggests changes to ethics rules as one way of reducing litigation costs.    . . . .    Over at Volokh, Kenneth Anderson seeks help (and gets it in the comments) in analyzing the behavior of Martha Coakely back when she was involved in the infamous Amirault prosecutions for child abuse.  In an article by the formidable Dorothy Rabinowtiz, Coakely stands accused of striking foul blows rather than hard blows (and violating 5.6(b)) by asking a talented defense lawyer to promise not to represent certain other defendants.  See the Volokh posting for details.    . . . .    Excavations in Israel have turned up the oldest known example of Hebrew writing, and it has a legal ethics angle.  On a pottery shard dating to the 10th cent. BCE, an inscription was found, exhorting readers to plead for the infant, the poor, and the widow -- in my view, a moral precursor to our notion that the lawyer has a duty to plead for the friendless and oppressed.