Leo Strine's "Practicing Law In A Lawless Time"

What should corporate lawyers tell their clients in the Trump/MAGA era?

Regular readers of my blog doubtless know of former Delaware Chief Justice Leo Strine. The “well-respected”¹ ex-Chief Justice after all was the “[w]underkind of U.S. corporate law”² and has been “recognized among academics, practitioners, and other judges” as an “intellectual leader” of the Delaware judiciary.³

Strine was always a frequent contributor to law reviews, but since he retired from the Court he has been even more productive. Many of his articles have dealt with important questions of corporate social responsibility, legal ethics, and corporate governance.

Leo has a new paper, Practicing Law In A Lawless Time, which is well worth reading. It’s particularly worth reading as a follow-up and thus in conjunction with his earlier paper, The Call of Conscience and the Current Moment: A Reflection Honoring William T. Allen and John L. Weinberg. The latter addressed the social role and responsibilities of corporate management in the present moment. The latter addresses what corporate lawyers should be advising their client to do in the present moment.

Leo E. Strine, Jr., Practicing Law in a Lawless Time (January 27, 2026). U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 26-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6227459

Leo E.Strine, Jr., The Call of Conscience and the Current Moment: A Reflection Honoring William T. Allen and John L. Weinberg (October 09, 2025). John L. Weinberg Occasional Paper No. 2502, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6076075

Here’s Call of Conscience’s abstract:

The lecture surfaces common themes in the extensive writings of Chancellor and Professor Allen on corporate governance, and in the singular lengthy writing of John Weinberg, his senior thesis focusing on the critical role of boards of directors in governing public companies. Both considered it critical to educate corporate leaders about their duties, and the relationship those duties had to not just the best interests of the corporation and its stockholders, but to society itself.

Both also stressed the need for high integrity corporate leadership, characterized by a commitment to speak with candor and act with independence when that was necessary to do what was right. Both believed deeply in the nation’s commitment to the rule of law and freedom and believed that principled corporate leadership was vital to ensuring that our society as a whole benefited from a market economy.

The lecture addresses these themes and finishes by relating them to the current moment during which fundamental principles Weinberg and Allen accepted as essential to our society are under serious challenge, and the ethical and moral questions this moment poses to leaders of not just business corporations, but of all key institutions in our society.

Here’s Practicing Law’s abstract:

The role of corporate lawyers has long been a subject of public scrutiny in the wake of market failures and scandals that involved corporate conduct at odds with expected ethical and legal norms. But this moment is different in a disturbing and unprecedented way for Americans. In prior moments, it could generally be assumed that those charged with enforcing the law were attempting to do so in a good-faith, even-handed, and non-discriminatory manner. In this moment, however, that long-standing assumption cannot be rationally embraced. Sadly, in this moment, the main threat to the rule of law comes from the government itself. This article addresses the essential role of corporate lawyers in this moment and provides practical arguments, rooted in long-standing ethical principles, common sense and business law, why encouraging clients to eschew the temptation to do the wrong thing for momentary advantage is not just the right thing for our nation, but the right thing for the clients in the long-term. The article concludes optimistically by noting that corporate lawyers regularly use their expertise and ethical muscle to bring out the better angels of their clients' natures and calling on the corporate bar to play a positive role in securing our nation's most essential values at this time when the rule of law is under serious threat.

So what should we make of it?