Retirement Incentives in the Twenty First Century: The Move Toward Employer Control of the ADEA

Retirement has become an increasingly important topic of public policy discussion in the United States, as well as an accepted, and even cherished, goal for many American workers. Consequently, it is not surprising that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) recognized, somewhat inartfully, the importance of retirement. When originally passed, the ADEA expressly provided an exemption for any bona fide employee benefit plan such as a retirement, pension, or insurance plan, which is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the ADEA. In 1986, Congress amended the ADEA to eliminate mandatory retirement, but made clear in its legislative history that voluntary retirement was a valid employee choice. The interaction of retirement and the ADEA became more explicit when Congress amended the Act again in 1990 to allow employers to observe the terms of a voluntary early retirement plan consistent with the purposes of the ADEA. The 1990 amendments also expressly allowed waivers as part of retirement incentive plans. Consistent with this pattern of amendments under the ADEA, courts similarly have been solicitous to the interests of both employers and employees in providing retirement incentives, arguably to the extent of minimizing other goals of the ADEA such as promoting employment

Professional Responsibility in an Uncertain Profession: Legal Ethics in China

This essay starts with two simple questions: Why do law schools in China have so little discussion of legal ethics? Why do students not press or seek more discussion of this topic? The essay then looks at the creation of norms of legal ethics from a topdown perspective and the inadequacy of that approach. Both a bottomup and top-down examination identify the tremendous challenges facing the Chinese emerging legal culture in building a coherent model of lawyering that can serve as the foundation for a system of legal ethics. This essay is intended as a contribution to the growing English language literature on the Chinese legal profession

Law and Lawyers in the U.S.: The Hero-Villain Dichotomy

Lawyers in U.S. culture are often presented in either an extremely positive or extremely negative light. Although popular culture exaggerates and oversimplifies the \u27good v. bad\u27 dynamic of lawyers, this dichotomy provides important insights into the role attorneys play in the U.S. legal system, the boundaries of legal ethics, and the extent to which the U.S. legal system is relied upon to address our society\u27s great moral and social dilemmas

UK Alternative Business Structures for Legal Practice: Emerging Models and Lessons for the US

Alternative Business Structure (ABS) law firms in the United Kingdom allow for non-lawyer owners and investors. This Article analyzes several new U.K. ABS law firms and offers an optimistic assessment of the benefits of these new firm models. ABS firms have created systems that improve legal services for the target clients and have mitigated the negative aspects of lawyer-centric thinking that pervades many traditional firms. ABS firm structure has provided access to capital to allow for investment in employee development and creative use of technology. The ABS form has brought some unregulated activities under the control of regulators and created the possibility of linking legal services to other socially-conscious pro-consumer service providers. Risks emerging from these early entrants into the ABS form include a concern about whether the public aspects of lawyering, such as public oriented duties to improve the legal system and offer pro bono services, become lost in a dominant corporate and client-centered model. If so, a regulatory response may be required to correct this imbalance

Civil Disobedience and the Lawyer\u27s Obligation to the Law

The purpose of this essay is to propose and justify a theory of the proper role of the lawyer faced with issues involving civil disobedience. Given the assumption that civil disobedience sometimes is morally proper, the more difficult question concerns whether civil disobedience might be proper in certain circumstances for general (nonlawyer) citizens, yet still improper for the lawyer, either as individual or as counselor. As described in Part IA, by becoming a member of the legal profession the lawyer takes on special responsibilities, which require the lawyer to make certain personal and professional sacrifices. As described in Part IB, our American legal system, with its Constitution, Bill of Rights, and emphasis on democracy, causes many people to see a close correlation between the rule of law (the notion that there are certain principles of justice with which both governments and individuals must comply) and positive law (the pronouncements of legislatures, courts, and administrative entities). Part IC sets out why, in light of this close identification between positive law and the rule of law, lawyers have a special obligation to act in accordance with the law. Part II of this article discusses the lawyer as counselor. When serving as a counselor, the lawyer provides both raw information and discussion to help the client make a fully informed decision. The lawyer’s role as counselor includes informing the client of his or her options within the law. In order to fulfill this responsibility the lawyer must be able to have a wide ranging discussion with the client. Any limitations on the lawyer’s discussion come from according proper respect for the client’s autonomy