For Immediate Release
October 26, 2007

Contact:

Kara Tershel, (202) 662-9500

Professor Lazarus

WASHINGTON, D.C. - According to a new study by Georgetown Law Professor Richard Lazarus, an elite group of private sector attorneys is dominating advocacy before the Supreme Court, which threatens an imbalance between those who can afford their services and those who cannot. This development, he argues, is shaping the Court’s docket as well as its outcomes.

This is just one of the findings in "Advocacy Matters Before and Within the Supreme Court: Transforming the Court by Transforming the Bar," which will be published in the Georgetown Law Journal in 2008. A draft of the study is available on the Social Science Research Network Website.

Lazarus contends that the rise of the modern Supreme Court Bar is beginning to have a profound effect on the development of the law by setting the Court’s agenda and influencing the Court’s rulings. He claims that business interests, who serve as the Bar’s primary clients, are enjoying heightened success before the Court as a result. "The re-emergence of a Supreme Court Bar of elite attorneys…is quietly transforming the Court and the nation’s laws," says Lazarus.

According to Lazarus, this is significant because "better, more effective advocates influence the development of the law and there is generally no court where such advocacy can wield more far-reaching influence than the Supreme Court."

Lazarus calls on the Bar and the Court to take steps to reduce this imbalance. "The advocacy gap in the Court between those who can pay and those who cannot," Lazarus says, "would be bad for the legal profession, the Court, and its rulings."

A story about the study appeared in the Legal Times on October 22, 2007.

Lazarus teaches environmental law, natural resources law, Supreme Court advocacy and torts at Georgetown Law. He previously served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. Both his teaching and scholarship relate to the work of the Court, especially Supreme Court advocacy, and he has frequently served as counsel to parties with cases before the Court.

About Georgetown University Law Center 

Georgetown University Law Center is one of the world's premier law schools. It has the largest full-time faculty in the nation and is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end. With this principle in mind, Georgetown Law has built an environment that cultivates an exchange of ideas and the pursuit of academic excellence. It brings together an extraordinarily varied group of teachers, scholars and practitioners, as well as an outstanding student body representing more than 60 countries.

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