The Price of Justice: The Myths of Lawyer Ethics

The brief volume by attorney Goldfarb opens with a succinct foreword by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and continues to reconsider the justice issues that often overlap and intertwine with the U.S. political system. Using numerous examples, Goldfarb documents the inequities inherent in the current system. After mentioning the student loan debt that many lawyers face upon graduating from law school, the author next details how the legal system has become bureaucratic and in favor of the wealthy. He also provides examples of both conservative and liberal lawyers who publicly taut justice, but privately practice the opposite. Overall, his main argument is that lawyers have the freedom to promote justice and ethics, yet their public personas aren’t always consistent with how they practice, uphold, and reinforce the law—and how, as a result, they could be upholding the same inequities they outwardly seek to change.