Marquette University Law School Marquette Law Scholarly Commons Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2001 Another Misunderstood Relation: Confidentiality and the Duty to Report Peter K. Rofes Marquette University Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/facpub Part of the Law Commons Publication Information Peter K. Rofes, Another Misunderstood Relation: Confidentiality and the Duty to Report, 14 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 621 (2001). Posted with permission of the publisher, The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics © 2001. Repository Citation Rofes, Peter K., "Another Misunderstood Relation: Confidentiality and the Duty to Report" (2001). Faculty Publications. Paper 292. http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/facpub/292 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Marquette Law Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Another Misunderstood Relation: Confidentiality and the Duty to Report PETER K. ROFES* INTRODUCTION: THE REPORTING DUTY AND ITS PARADOXES Over the past two decades, the duty imposed on most American lawyers to report the misconduct of their peers has garnered substantial attention across the professional landscape. From courts and state bar ethics committees to scholars, practitioners, and law students, the duty - once deemed a quaint aspirational guidepost of dubious practical importance - has increasingly engaged the resources of all segments of the profession. In particular, it would be no exaggeration to observe that the treatment of the reporting duty by courts and ethics committees has triggered a cottage industry of commentary, both in scholarly and professional journals and on the continuing legal education circuit.' * Professor of Law and Director of Part-time Legal Education, Marquette University Law School.