The Pursuit of Justice and Jewish Law

A Jewish lawyer is bound to — sometimes torn between — two disparate systems of law and ethics. What do you do when your religion conflicts with your obligations as a lawyer? For that matter, how do you know what your religious obligations are? Michael J. Broyde, Professor of Law at Emory University, founding rabbi of the Young Israel in Atlanta and a member dayan of the Beth Din of America, takes a fearless inside look at the ethical and halakhic issues facing the Jewish lawyer and anyone caught up in the American legal system.

Major topics examined from the perspective of Jewish law include: litigating in secular courts; the problems posed by professional confidentiality; the issues involved in aiding a client in a violation of either Jewish or American law; the ethics of cross examination and the obligations of a lawyer to pursue truth; the problems raised by working as a prosecutor or a defense attorney; practicing bankruptcy law; and the permissibility or obligation of informing on others for violating American law. The book also includes a full discussion of issues posed by family law (including an appendix addressing the 1992 New York Get Law); as well as a complete unit addressing the problems of business law, from usurious transactions to the ethics of negotiation and arbitration. Many other topics are included as well. This book was originally published by Yeshiva University Press in 1996 and has undergone significant revisions and additions for the current edition.