Of Shining Knights and Cunning Pettifoggers: The Symbolic World of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct

This article offers a coherent ethical perspective on the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The legal profession bases its Model Rules on assumptions about lawyers, their clients and adversaries, the authority to which lawyers appeal, and the economy in which they practice. Citing in support every Model Rule, this article exposes the rich symbolic assumptions underlying the Rules and concludes that it is through this symbolic world that the Model Rules are best understood. This article includes a description of the normative economy on which the symbolic world of the Model Rules is based.