Public Lawyers, Private Values: Can, Should, and Will Government Lawyers Serve the Public Interest?

There is a widely shared perception among lawyers, judges, and various public officials that government lawyers have greater responsibilities to serve the public interest than lawyers in private practice. This perception is reflected in judicial opinions, lawyer professional responsibility standards, and numerous other legal writings. Nonetheless, a number of academic critics have attacked what is described here as the public interest serving role for government attorneys. This Article provides a defense of the public interest serving role against its critics. While the critiques addressed are diverse, they often make the mistake of importing values from the context of private litigation into the quintessentially public context of government litigation. The Article concludes by offering three examples of the most common forms of government litigation—criminal prosecutions, lawsuits against executive branch agencies, and civil enforcement proceedings—in an effort to demonstrate how the public interest serving role ought to be pursued

Hope, Ethnic Pride, and Academic Achievement: Positive Psychology and Latino Youth

Previous studies have found that hope has beneficial effects in athletics, academics, physical health, and mental well being in majority populations. Given the challenges Latino youth face in the United States, ethnic identity and hope may be a powerful buffer from these negative stressors. The current study aimed to identify whether chronic levels of hope related to academic performance, whether an ethnic pride manipulation altered state hope levels, and whether there was a link between ethnic identity and chronic hope among a sample of Latino youth. Results indicated that GPA and chronic hope levels were not related, a manipulation to boost ethic pride increased state hope, and that ethnic identity was related to chronic levels of hope. The findings suggest that ethnic identity is an important contributor to hope levels

What Should Law School Student Conduct Codes Do?

Adopting a regulatory function as the primary goal of a law school code seems appropriate. In light of that goal, this article next attempted to present the broad outlines of a code that would serve that goal. Such a code would provide for an initial investigatory phase regarding alleged code violations, with students playing the key role in this and subsequent phases of the process under the code, in order to determine that only meritorious allegations be pursued...Perhaps in light of the possible objectives of a law school code discussed in the beginning of this article, the ultimate objectives advocated here may sound unambitious or uninspiring. However, the effective provision of an ethical environment within the law school for the conduct of the school’s core academic functions is no small accomplishment

Achieving Better Quality of Care for Low-Income Populations: The Roles of Health Insurance and the Medical Home in Reducing Health Inequities

Outlines the importance of having both insurance and a medical home in reducing health and healthcare disparities for low-income adults, including access to care, preventive screenings, and satisfaction with quality of care. Makes policy recommendations