Reimagining Lawyering in a World on Fire
David Wilkins |
TEDxOxford
• February 2021
In this talk, Professor Wilkins argues that the current global public health crisis, a looming global recession, and the increasing global calls for racial and social justice have exposed deep structural inequalities that will persist long after the current emergencies fade. To respond to these challenges, businesses and the lawyers who serve them must reimagine both the purpose of global business – from shareholders, to stakeholders, sustainability, and social justice – and the nature of legal services – from technical expertise to further narrow client interests, to being wise counselors and effective leaders who help business and society create solutions to complex problems at the intersection of law, policy, economics, and morality. In this new “world on fire,” the first question that lawyers need to help their clients answer is: “is it legal?” But the last question they need to be a part of framing is: “is it right?”