Monroe Freedman's Influence on Legal Education

Abstract

Monroe Freedman’s influence on legal education was profound by any measure. He was much more than a gifted scholar and teacher, though he was all of those, as well as an accomplished lawyer. He was also the antithesis of a law professor disconnected from the practice of law who produces scholarship that has little to no relationship to the practice of law. Instead, Monroe Freedman’s scholarship was singularly focused on the difficult ethical issues lawyers face in the practice of law, and he was fully engaged with the practicing bar. Much of his scholarship was on the leading edge of what was to become the field of legal ethics and the teaching of professional responsibility in law schools. Monroe Freedman raised questions about lawyers, their role in an adversary system, and the importance of loyalty to clients. He also demonstrated that law professors could effectively teach legal ethics not only in a legal ethics course but also in other courses, using his first-year Contracts course as an example. Through his scholarship and his teaching, Freedman greatly influenced legal education in the content of Legal Ethics courses, as well as how those courses are taught. This Essay focuses on Monroe Freedman’s influence on legal education.