Sonali Khandelwal, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, New Law College, Pune
ABSTRACT
As countries, global organizations, and private donors have invested strongly in the rule of law and human rights over the past two centuries, attorneys have achieved prominence in transnational law and institution reform initiatives. As the U.S. legal profession moves into this worldwide field, we should pause to consider the ethical issues posed by "worldwide lawyering" practices.
To answer the first question, I draw on the ethical doctrine of cosmopolitanism, as well as the obligations of the U.S. legal profession to the rule of law and reforming justice, to conclude that there are powerful ethical grounds for promoting global justice. However, these reasons do not by any means warrant promotion. While morally justified in theory, the cosmopolitan project of global justice introduces ethical questions in practice. In the final chapter of the Article, I recommend that, in order to prevent ethical concerns, global justice attorneys must dismiss an "import" approach to law in which foreign legislation and institutions are transplanted into new settings in favour of a normative approach to the procedures of law making.
The protection and promotion of the universal values of the rule of law, human rights and democracy are ends in themselves. They are also essential for a world of justice, opportunity and stability- Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations.
