The Lincoln Lawyer
Brandon Jayne
Professor Haines
Intro to Professional Ethics
April 4 2015
The Lincoln Lawyer Do the ethical standards that we live by on a daily basis change when one is sitting in a courtroom? Certainly the courtroom has its own set of standards and rules that clients and attorneys must abide by when conducting a trial, so is there any circumstance when one can be justified in breaking these rules? These are some key questions that one must ask themselves when watching The Lincoln Lawyer. The movie’s main protagonist, Mickey Haller, is a criminal defense lawyer who happens to be caught between a rock and a hard place when he discovers that one of his clients is not the innocent man he claims to be. Haller is defending a man by the name of Louis Roulet who had recently been accused of assault against a young woman. The woman swears that Roulet was the man who assaulted her, but Roulet denies her quick accusations and instead makes the claim that he was set up by the woman and her boyfriend. He claims that this all was an elaborate scheme in order to take advantage of his financial opulence. Soon after Haller takes the case and begins to delve into the details, he discovers that Roulet is in fact the man that assaulted the young woman. It is also brought to Haller’s attention that this woman was not the only victim that Roulet subjected to such heinous crimes. There were in fact others, one of which was a victim in Haller’s previous cases in which the jurisdiction falsely condemned a man named Jesus Martinez for a murder that he did not commit. Feeling guilty for the fact that a previous client of his is serving time for a crime he did not commit, Haller contemplates how to enact revenge on Roulet for the crimes he committed and the people he hurt. However, it proves to be a difficult task for Haller to accomplish being that Roulet is his client now, and as his lawyer Haller has to maintain a certain sense of attorney-client confidentiality. At this point, we
Professor Haines
Intro to Professional Ethics
April 4 2015
The Lincoln Lawyer Do the ethical standards that we live by on a daily basis change when one is sitting in a courtroom? Certainly the courtroom has its own set of standards and rules that clients and attorneys must abide by when conducting a trial, so is there any circumstance when one can be justified in breaking these rules? These are some key questions that one must ask themselves when watching The Lincoln Lawyer. The movie’s main protagonist, Mickey Haller, is a criminal defense lawyer who happens to be caught between a rock and a hard place when he discovers that one of his clients is not the innocent man he claims to be. Haller is defending a man by the name of Louis Roulet who had recently been accused of assault against a young woman. The woman swears that Roulet was the man who assaulted her, but Roulet denies her quick accusations and instead makes the claim that he was set up by the woman and her boyfriend. He claims that this all was an elaborate scheme in order to take advantage of his financial opulence. Soon after Haller takes the case and begins to delve into the details, he discovers that Roulet is in fact the man that assaulted the young woman. It is also brought to Haller’s attention that this woman was not the only victim that Roulet subjected to such heinous crimes. There were in fact others, one of which was a victim in Haller’s previous cases in which the jurisdiction falsely condemned a man named Jesus Martinez for a murder that he did not commit. Feeling guilty for the fact that a previous client of his is serving time for a crime he did not commit, Haller contemplates how to enact revenge on Roulet for the crimes he committed and the people he hurt. However, it proves to be a difficult task for Haller to accomplish being that Roulet is his client now, and as his lawyer Haller has to maintain a certain sense of attorney-client confidentiality. At this point, we