Richard M. Zitrin, a partner in the San Francisco firm of Zitrin & Mastromonaco, LLP, is an adjunct professor of law at the University of San Francisco, where he serves as coordinator of the legal ethics seminar curriculum and teaches a seminar in legal ethics and the practice of law. Zitrin also teaches trial practice at USF and legal ethics at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He was a member of the State Bar of California’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct from 1990 to 1996 and served as its chair in 1994-95.

Carol Langford is principal of the law office of Carol M. Langford in Walnut Creek, California, and a teacher of legal ethics at the University of San Francisco School of Law and at UC Hastings. She has also taught at UC Berkeley. She was a member of the State Bar of California’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct from 1991 to 1997 and served as its chair in 1995-96.



THE MORAL COMPASS OF THE AMERICAN LAWYER:
Truth, Justice, Power, and Greed
Random House, April 1999
Genre: Current Events & Politics
Agent: Faith Hamlin

Foreign Sales
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Too many lawyers blatantly abuse power and trust and engage in reckless ethical misconduct, grossly unjust billing practices, and dishonesty disguised as client protection. All this has undermined the credibility of lawyers and the authority of the legal system. In the court of public opinion, many lawyers these days are guiltier than the criminals or giant corporations they defend.

In this eye-opening, incisive book, Richard Zitrin and Carol Langford, two practicing lawyers and distinguished law professors, shine a penetrating light on the question everyone is asking: Why do lawyers behave the way they do? With expert analysis of actual cases ranging from murder to class action suits, Zitrin and Langford investigate lawyers’ behavior and its impact on our legal system. The result is a stunningly clear-eyed exploration of the practice of law-and a cogent, groundbreaking program for legal reform.