Should Lawyers Speak out on the Rule of Law? (International Bar Association)
International Bar Association, September 25, 2017
Should Lawyers Speak out on the Rule of Law? [podcast]
“The IBA also spoke to John Kiernan, President of the New York City Bar Association about the response of the U.S. legal profession, particularly in light of President Trump’s travel ban and plans to cut funding for civil legal aid.
IBA: ‘When do U.S. lawyers and the organized U.S. Bar have an obligation to speak out?’ John S. Kiernan: ‘I think that there is, of course, plenty of room within the legal profession for wide differences in policy. But when an administration advocates positions that are contrary to existing law, that fail to protect the vulnerable, and that impede the fair, orderly and efficient administration of justice, then regardless of politics it is the responsibility of lawyers and bar associations, as guardians of those pillars, to speak out. The legal profession, collectively, has an obligation to be a guardian of the law, and when lawyers form, for example, associations of lawyers to speak and act collectively, those associations of lawyers must be guardians of the law. Most of the individual lawyers who join the City Bar want to do so, at least in part because of this notion that the associations of lawyers are guardians of the legal system.'”
