| In Books, Newspapers and on Television, Professor Allen is a Multimedia Moralizer |
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And it carries perils, of course. Sounding like an idiot, trivializing profound issues and getting in over one’s head are definite dangers. Practicing attorneys on camera must take care not to give legal advice, not to reveal client confidences, and not to take positions that conflict with clients’ interests. As members of the clergy, a priest and a rabbi have automatic moral authority. Where does the moral authority of a professor and a lawyer come from? Many individual lawyers shine with an aura of trustworthiness because of their accomplishments in the public interest. Others stink to high heaven with the stench of suspicion. A lawyer can connote adversarial, sophistical, crooked and
partisan as easily as fair, impartial, righteous and just. We lawyers have to earn our moral standing.
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