Over 4,000 lawyers lost their positions at major American law firms in 2008 and 2009. In The Vanishing American Lawyer, Professor Thomas Morgan discusses the legal profession and the need for both law students and lawyers to adapt to the needs and expectations of clients in the future. The world needs people who understand institutions that create laws and how to access those institutions' works, but lawyers are no longer part of a profession that is uniquely qualified to advise on a broad range of distinctly legal questions. Clients will need advisors who are more specialized than many lawyers are today and who have more expertise in non-legal issues. Many of today's lawyers do not have a special ability to provide such services.
While American lawyers have been hesitant to change the ways they can improve upon meeting client needs, lawyers in other countries, notably Great Britain and Australia, have been better at adapting. Law schools must also recognize the world their students will face and prepare them to operate successfully within it. Professor Morgan warns that lawyers must adapt to new client needs and expectations. The term "professional" should be applied to individuals who deserve praise for skilled and selfless efforts, but this term may lead to occupational suicide if it becomes a justification for not seeing and adapting to the world ahead.

Selected Standards on Professional Responsibility discusses one of the most rapidly changing fields in American law. Covering national, as well as New York and California, standards on professional responsibility, this volume collects the most up-to-date and important standards that govern judicial and legal ethics, including: ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct The American Lawyer's Code of Conduct California Rules of Professional Conduct New York Code of Professional Responsibility ABA Aspirational Goals for Lawyer Advertising ABA Canons of Professional Ethics Students, faculty, the practicing bar, and judges will find this book to be an essential examination of professional responsibility issues they confront daily.