Rebellious Lawyering, Regnant Lawyering, and Street-Level Bureaucracy

Abstract

This Article explores the professional responsibilities of progressive lawyers representing the poor and disadvantaged. The author argues that lawyers representing the poor are generally good, energetic lawyers committed to social justice and lessening the pain of poverty. Subsequently, the defects found in poverty lawyering are structural, institutional, political, economic, and ethical. Therefore, the author posits that the mission of teachers and practitioners should be to develop practice patterns and proposals that account for the street-level experiences of legal services lawyers on the front lines. By examining the notions of rebellious and regnant lawyering, the author seeks to illuminate how these theories affect the daily triage obligations of legal services offices, as well as the differing duties of progressive lawyers from those with high powered clients.

Keywords: professional responsibility, professional ethics, progressive lawyering, poverty lawyering, rebellious lawyering, regnant lawyering, street-level bureaucrats, legal services lawyers, legal education, legal services offices