The moral and political philosophy of law examined

An American legal ethicist involved in the debate over the ethics of interrogation used at Guantanamo Bay will give a public address at USQ this month.

Professor of Law at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Brad Wendel, will explore lawyers’ fidelity to law during the Shine Lawyers Public Lecture at USQ on September 28.

USQ Law Professor Reid Mortensen said, in light of national debates in Australia over how to regulate the legal profession, Professor Wendel’s comments on the independence of the legal profession and the role of consumers in regulating lawyers would be of particular interest.

'Professor Wendel is a leading legal ethicist and the author of The Law Governing Lawyers, Professional Responsibility and the forthcoming publication, Lawyers and Fidelity to Law,' Professor Mortensen said.

'He is also co-author of a leading American text on lawyer’s professional responsibility, The Law and Ethics of Lawyering and was involved in the vigorous debate in the United States over the ethics of interrogation used at Guantanamo Bay.'

Professor Wendel joined the Cornell faculty in 2004, after teaching at Washington and Lee Law School from 1999-2004. Before entering graduate school and law teaching, he was a product liability litigator at Bogle & Gates in Seattle and a law clerk for Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

His teaching interests are in the regulation of the legal profession and torts, and his research focuses on the application of moral and political philosophy to problems of legal ethics.

The lecture will be held in Q501/502 at the University on September 28, with those planning to attend encouraged to register before September 22.

For more information on the lecture please contact paula.dekeyzer@usq.edu.au or telephone (07) 4631 1575.