Bond on Atticus Finch in the Law School Classroom

Cynthia D. Bond, The John Marshall Law School, is publishing To Kill a Lawyer-Hero: Atticus Finch in the Law School Classroom in volume 45 of the Rutgers Law Record (2018). Here is the abstract.

This article addresses the well-known lawyer character from Harper Lee’s novel and subsequent film, To Kill a Mockingbird. For years, legal scholars have rhapsodized about Atticus Finch as the ultimate “lawyer-hero” and role model for aspiring attorneys, with little dissent. When Lee’s literary executor published an early draft version of the novel entitled Go Set a Watchman in 2015, many readers were shocked to encounter an Atticus Finch who was an apologist for segregation and the leader of a White Citizens Council chapter. This article reflects on evolving views of Finch as lawyer-hero, examining how he plays in the contemporary law school classroom. This article argues that, regardless of Go Set a Watchman, law professors should be teaching Atticus Finch critically given the unacknowledged white privilege embedded in To Kill a Mockingbird. Yet how can we critique Finch and still nurture students’ interest in and admiration of social justice lawyering, embodied for some in the mythic lawyer-hero? This article proposes techniques to dismantle the heroic construct surrounding Atticus Finch, shifting the focus from fictional images of the socially-engaged lawyer to students’ own professional aspirations.

The full text is not available from SSRN.

Ayers on Atticus Finch's "Half-Virtuous" Integrity

Andrew B. Ayers, Office of the Solicitor General of New York, has published The Half-Virtuous Integrity of Atticus Finch. Here is the abstract.

Atticus Finch has two kinds of integrity, but only one of them is genuinely admirable. On one hand, he is rightly admired for standing up for the things he values. On the other hand, Atticus is also praised for being true to himself — being “the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” But this kind of integrity, contrary to what many lawyers and legal ethicists believe, is not a virtue. Far from being virtuous, a solidly integrated self, like Atticus’s, can sometimes make it harder to act virtuously. For example, Atticus’s self-understanding is solidly integrated around his commitment to the justice system. But this self-integration prevents him from noticing his only chance to save Tom Robinson’s life. To Kill a Mockingbird shows that it is sometimes better to have tension in our identities. The identities of characters like Calpurnia, Maudie, and others are conflicted or divided; but these tensions allow them to be admirable in ways that Atticus is not. They can cross social boundaries, subvert their own social roles, and radically criticize their community precisely because their identities are fragmented or in flux. This should be inspiring to lawyers, and to the legal ethicists who have long worried that lawyers’ roles will cause schisms in their identities. Sometimes tension in the self is exactly what we need to be good.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

The Legacy of "To Kill a Mockingbird"

The Hollywood Reporter reviews and remembers the movie adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. Here, the original THR review (1962), here a discussion of the movie's enduring impact as Harper Lee, author of the novel, leaves the world stage.

Below: a short bibliography on law and film in To Kill a Mockingbird

Michael Asimow, When Lawyers Were Heroes, 30 U.S. L. Rev. 1131 (1995).

Rob Atkinson, Liberating Lawyers: Divergent Parallels in "Intruder in the Dust" and "To Kill a Mockingbird,"  49 Duke L.J. 601 (1999).

John Denvir, One Movie No Lawyer Should Miss, 30 U.S. L. Rev. 1051 (1995).

Timothy O. Lenz, Changing Images of Law in Film & Television Crime Stories (2003).

Stefan Machura and Stefan Ulbrich, Law in Film: Globalizing the Hollywood Courtroom Drama, 28 Journal of Law and Society 117 (March 2001).

Carrie Menkel-Meadow, The Sense and Sensibilities of Lawyers: Lawyering in Literature, Narratives, Film and Television, and Ethical Choices Regarding Career and Craft, 31 McGeorge L. Rev. 1 (1999-2000).

John Jay Osborn, Jr., Atticus Finch--The End of Honor: A Discussion of "To Kill a Mockingbird, 30 U.S. L. Rev. 1139 (1995).

David Ray Papke, Law, Cinema, and Ideology: Hollywood Legal Films of the 1950s, 48 UCLA L. Rev. 1473 (2000-2001).