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Lawyers and the Lies They Tell

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LAWYERS AND THE LIES THEY TELL Bruce A. Green* and Rebecca Roiphe**

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction I. The First Amendment, Lies, and Lawyers A. The First Amendment and Lies in Public B. The Free Speech Rights of Lawyers II. Lawyers, Rules of Professional Conduct, and Lying A. Lying in the Practice of Law B. Lying Outside the Professional Setting C. Do Political Lies Fall Through the Cracks? III. Assessing Lawyers’ Political Lies A. What Level of Scrutiny Should Be Applied to Lawyers’ Political Lies in Public? B. Government Interests in Regulating Lawyers’ Political Lies C. The Problem in Regulating Political Lies Conclusion

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* Louis Stein Chair of Law and Director of the Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham Law School. ** Trustee Professor of Law, Director of the Institute for Professional Ethics, Co-Director of the Criminal Justice Center, New York Law School. We would like to thank Rebecca Aviel, Josh Blackman, Alan Chen, Doni Gewirtzman, Abner Greene, and Nadine Strossen for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts. We would also like to thank Tony Sebok, Brad Wendel, and Ben Zipursky for an extensive email dialog on the topic that helped us develop our views. Finally, our Article benefited from the comments of participants in the symposium at Washington University School of Law organized by Peter Joy, After the Trump Administration: Lessons and Legacy for the Legal Profession.

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