Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to bring ethics to Washington. On January 21, 2009, one day after becoming President, he delivered on this promise by signing an Executive Order that purported to slam shut the revolving door between the private sector and his Administration. He made clear his expectation that members of his Administration are to serve the public free of whatever conflicts of interest might get in the way...

The Federalist Society's Professional Responsibility Practice Group hosted this panel discussion on The Role of Government Attorneys and the Global War on Terror at the 2009 National Lawyers Convention on Thursday, November 12, 2009. Panelists included Mr. Miguel A. Estrada of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP; Prof. W. Bradley Wendel of Cornell University Law School; and Judge Diane S. Sykes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

The November 2009 issue of Engage is now online (exclusively a digital issue). Engage provides original scholarship on current, important legal and policy issues. Through its publication, we aim to contribute to the marketplace of ideas in a way that is collegial, measured, and insightful—and hope to spark a higher level of debate and discussion than is all too often found in today’s legal community. [Read now!]

These last two decades have seen the dramatic rise of in-house counsel at large law firms. In 2002, Elizabeth Chambliss and David Wilkins reported that, by the late 1990s, every one of a sample of 32 large law firms had established at least a position of ethics or risk management specialist filled by an in-house lawyer, many having created that position recently. A 2008 survey of the AmLaw 200 firms by the Altman Weil consulting firm found that, by 2004, 63% of them had a designated in-house general counsel; by 2008, that figure had increased to 85%. A key function of such in-house counsel is to consult on conflicts and other ethical issues, many of which involve the firm’s current clientele...