Much of what lawyers do in practice requires the exercise of professional judgment in the face of uncertainty: governing principles can be murky, and factual contexts vary widely. This book is designed to assist lawyers in assessing risks and making informed judgments about their professional obligations using all the relevant aspects of the law of lawyering.

First, we have tried to take full account of the multiple sources of the law of lawyering (Rules of Professional Conduct, common law, legislative enactments, and constitutional provisions). Second, we have placed the existing rules constraining lawyers' conduct into both historical and national context. Third, we have tried to avoid the impression that everything a lawyer needs to know about the "law of lawyering" can be found in the existing rules and their interpretations.

As we hope will be seen throughout, we believe that sound social policy, and ultimately the demands of institutional, distributive, and interpersonal "justice," should guide our conduct as professionals. We believe that Washington lawyers will be well served by a book that starts by setting out what that law is as clearly and succinctly as possible and only then seeks to evaluate and (where necessary) criticize that law. Thus, in each section we have, insofar as possible, set out the existing law before giving our views about that law. In each section that contains our critical evaluation of the existing law, that evaluation is introduced with the heading "Author's Commentary" and placed in a box to set it off from the rest of the discussion.

At the beginning of each chapter, we have listed the primary rules and statutes before proceeding to our analysis. We have started with Washington law when that is clear. Insofar as we have needed to venture outside of Washington, we have looked to the ABA model rules and standards for comparison and guidance and, where it seems relevant and helpful, to the rules or law of other states. In trying to situate Washington law in the context of national law, we have drawn heavily on the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, an immensely valuable resource for all lawyers interested in the legal rules that govern their behavior.