Russell Pearce

In 1990, Professor Pearce joined the Fordham faculty, where he teaches, writes and lectures in the field of professional responsibility. Professor Pearce has delivered the Baker & McKenzie Lecture on Legal Ethics at Loyola Chicago Law School, the inaugural Louis D. Brandeis Lecture at Pepperdine Law School and the inaugural William D. Brahms Lecture on Law and Religion at Case Western Reserve Law School. He has also received the Sanford D. Levy Memorial Award from the New York State Bar Association “in recognition of his contribution to understanding and advancement in the field of professional ethics.”

Education

Yale, BA, 1978, JD, 1981

Representative Publications

Renee Knake Jefferson, Russell G. Pearce, Bruce A. Green, Peter A. Joy, Sung Hui Kim, M. Ellen Murphy, Laurel S. Terry, & Lonnie T. Brown Jr.,  Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach (Fourth Edition 2020) Professional Responsibility: A Contemporary Approach 

Russell G. Pearce, A Jewish Perspective on Tom Shaffer: Zecher Tzadik Livracha (May the Memory of the Righteous Be a Blessing), 10 St. Mary’s Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics liv (solicited tribute essay 2020)

Beyond Cardboard Lawyers in Legal Ethics Legal Ethics, Forthcoming

Russell G. Pearce & Emily Jenab, Reflections on Identity, God and Lawyers, Cosmologics Magazine (2017), Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 3172984, May 8, 2018

Pearce, Russell G., A Challenge to Bleached Out Professional Identity: How Jewish was Justice Louis D. Brandeis? (May 1, 2017). Touro Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 335, 2017; Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2961283.

Wald, Eli and Pearce, Russell G., Being Good Lawyers: A Relational Approach to Law Practice (September 19, 2016). 29 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 601 (2016); U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-30; Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2840886.

Difference Blindness vs. Bias Awareness: Why Law Firms with the Best of Intentions Have Failed to Create Diverse Partnerships Fordham Law Review, Vol. 83, No. 2407 (2015)

What's Love Got to Do with Lawyers? Thoughts on Relationality, Love, and Lawyers’ Work
17 Legal Ethics (2014)

The Great Disruption: How Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal Services 82 Fordham Law Review 3041 (2014)

From Emancipation to Assimilation: Is Secular Liberalism Still Good for Jewish Lawyers?
From Emancipation to Assimilation: Is Secular Liberalism Still Good for Jewish Lawyers?, in Jews and the Law (Ari Mermelstein, Victoria Saker Woeste, Ethan Zaidoff & Marc Galanter, eds. 2014)

A Taxonomy of Lawyer Regulation: How Contrasting Theories of Regulation Explain the Divergent Regulatory Regimes in Australia, England/Wales, and North America 16:2 Legal Ethics 258 (2013) (published 2014)

Business EthicsHANDBOOK ON THE ECONOMICS OF RECIPROCITY AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE, pp. 49-58, Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni eds., 2013, Revue Internationale De L’éthique Des Affaires Et De La Compliance – Supplément À La Semaine Juridique Entreprise Et Affaires, No. 39, p. 15, September 2013

Nothing New Under the Sun: How the Legal Profession's Twenty-First Century Challenges Resemble Those of the Turn of the Twentieth Century Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol. 40, pp. 481-502, 2012 (published 2013)

The Relational Infrastructure of Law Firm Culture and Regulation: The Exaggerated Death of Big Law Hofstra Law Review, Vol. 42, No. 109 (2013)

Rethinking Lawyer Regulation: How a Relational Approach Would Improve Professional Rules and Roles Michigan State Law Review, Vol. 2012, No. 513

The Virtue of Low Barriers to Becoming a Lawyer: Promoting Liberal and Democratic Values

19 Int'l J. Legal Profession 357-378, 2012

Confidentiality Explained: The Dialogue Approach to Discussing Confidentiality with Clients. San Diego Law Review, Vol. 8, No. 157 (2011)

Making Good Lawyers 9 U. St. Thomas L. J. 403 (2011)

The Obligation of Lawyers to Heal Civic Culture: Confronting the Ordeal of Incivility in the Practice of Law University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review, Vol. 34, p. 1, 2011

Professional Responsibility for the Age of Obama (Reviewing David Luban, Legal Ethics and Human Dignity) Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Vol. 22, No. 1595 (2009)

Film Essay: Revitalizing the Lawyer-Poet: What Lawyer's Can Learn From Rock and Roll, DVD Film Essay (2006). Brian Danitz, Director, and Romelia Leach, Executive Producer. Copy of text

Russell G. Pearce and Bruce A. Green, " Public Service Must Begin at Home": The Lawyer as Civics Teacher in Everyday Practice, 50 William & Mary Law Rev. 1207, (2009)

Russell G. Pearce and Samuel J. Levine, "Rethinking the Legal Reform Agenda: Will Raising the Standards for Bar Admission Promote or Undermine Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law? 77 Fordham Law Rev. 1635 (2009)

The Legal Profession As a Blue State: Reflections on Public Philosophy, Jurisprudence, and Legal Ethics, 75 Fordham L. Rev. 1339 (2006)

Russell G. Pearce and Amelia J. Uelmen, Religious Lawyering's Second Wave, 21 Journal of Law and Religion 2 (2006)

How Law Firms Can Do Good While Doing Well (And the Answer Is Not Pro Bono), 33 Fordham Urban Law Journal 211 (2005)

White Lawyering: Rethinking Race, Lawyer Identity, and Rule of Law, 73 Fordham Law Rev. 2081 (2005)

Redressing Inequality in the Market For Justice: Why Access to Lawyers Will Never Solve the Problem and Why Rethinking the Role of Judges Will Help, 73 Fordham Law Rev. 969 (2004)

Russell G. Pearce and Amelia J. Uelmen, Religious Lawyering in a Liberal Democracy: A Challenge and an Invitation, 55 Case Western Law Rev. 127 (2004)

MacCrate’s Missed Opportunity: The MacCrate Report’s Failure to Advance Professional Values, 23 Pace Law Rev. 575 (2004)

Legal Ethics Must be the Heart of the Law School Curriculum, 26 J. Legal Profession 159 (2001-2002)

Lawyers as America’s Governing Class: The Formation and Dissolution of the Original Understanding of the American Lawyer’s Role, 8 U. Chicago Roundtable 381 (2001)

The Jewish Lawyer's Question, 27 Texas Tech Law Rev. 1259 (1996)

The Professionalism Paradigm Shift: Why Discarding Professional Ideology Will Improve the Conduct and Reputation of the Bar, 70 NYU Law Rev. 1229 (1995)

Family Values and Legal Ethics: Competing Approaches to Conflicts in Representing Spouses, 62 Fordham Law Rev. 1253 (1994)

Jewish Lawyering in a Multicultural Society: A Midrash on Levinson, 14 Cardozo Law Rev.1613 (1993)

Lawyers Rock

A film essay, Revitalizing the Lawyer Poet offers a new vision of the role and responsibilities of lawyers that rejects the dichotomy between altruistic lawyers and self-interested business people. It also challenges lawyers to develop a more compelling understanding of how they can fulfill their duty to the public good through their everyday work and how they can promote access to justice for low and middle income Americans by expanding the role of non-lawyers.

Red State, Blue State

A film essay on ethics and professionalism, Red State, Blue State brings a fresh viewpoint to the ongoing debate about the role of morality in the practice of law. More information.