White Plains, N.Y. -- On October 11, 2001 Professor William H. Simon,
Saunders Professor of Law from Stanford University and Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia University, will lead the 11^th Annual Philip B. Blank Memorial Lecture on Attorney Ethics.   Professor Simon’s lecture, The Role of the Public Official's Lawyer: A Case Study from the Clinton Era, will take an in-depth look at how the ethical duties of lawyers for public officials differ from those of lawyers for private clients.  The lecture will be held at Pace Law School in White Plains, NY in the Robert B. Fleming Moot Court Room at 4:00p.m., with a reception immediately following.  

Professor Simon has written and lectured extensively on professional responsibility. His recent publications include THE PRACTICE OF LAW: A THEORY OF LAWYERS' ETHICS (Harvard 1998) and "Moral Pluck: Legal Ethics in Popular Culture," 101 Columbia Law Review 421 (2001). Before joining the Stanford faculty in 1981, Simon practiced both business law in a large corporate firm and welfare law in a legal aid office. He has continued to teach and consult about lawyering on both business and social issues. 

In 1994, Bernard Nussbaum resigned as White House Counsel in the wake of a controversy about his response to the FBI's request to search associate counsel Vincent Foster's office after Foster's death by gunshot.  Nussbaum claimed that his conduct had been required by professional responsibility norms and protested that public criticism of him arose from misunderstanding of professional responsibility doctrine. In a hearing on the matter before Congress, he debated the point with Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann.  Professor Simon will use this episode as a basis for a consideration of the distinctive ethical qualities of public lawyering. The public lawyer resembles the corporation lawyer in that they represent an entity, but the entity has distinctive qualities by virtue of being part of government.  Defining the client to whom the lawyer owes loyalty thus has unique difficulties.

The Annual Philip B. Blank Memorial Lecture on Attorney Ethicswas established by the family, friends and colleagues of the late Philip B. Blank, Associate Dean for External Affairs and Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law.  In honor of Dean Blank's commitment to legal ethics, the Blank Lecture has presented distinguished members of the legal community recognized for their leadership in the area of attorney ethics and practice.  

Dean Blank was a member of the Law School's faculty from 1979 until his death in 1989.  He taught courses in Professional Responsibility, Wills, Estate Planning and Legal Methods.He is remembered as an outstanding teacher of the law and a caring mentor to his students.  A model citizen of Westchester County, Dean Blank served as Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Mount Pleasant and held leadership positions in the Westchester County and White Plains Bar Associations.   

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is located in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. The School offers the J.D. program for full-time, and part-time day and evening students. Its post-graduate program includes the LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in environmental Law and the LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs and its Clinical Education Program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, securities arbitration.