Ethics: The Lawyer as Advocate (from Annual Firearms Law in Virginia 2021) (On Demand Seminar)

A pre-recorded streaming VIDEO replay of one session from the October 2021 webcast seminar, 2nd Annual Firearms Law in Virginia.

Professional Responsibility Rule 3, Advocate, requires that claims be meritorious, but allows good faith arguments for reversal of existing law and to test the validity of a ruling. “Second Amendment sanctuaries” raise issues concerning the discretion of Commonwealth’s attorneys to decline to prosecute selected cases, and how counsel may advise public officials regarding whether to enforce laws deemed unconstitutional.

COURSE PLANNER AND SPEAKER

Stephen P. Halbrook, Ph.D., Attorney at Law / Fairfax

“Stephen Halbrook is an attorney with extensive knowledge of the historical underpinnings of the Second Amendment and practical knowledge of litigating in this rapidly evolving area of law. His writings include topics as diverse as Gun Control in the Third Reich and The Founders’ Second Amendment, and he was heavily involved in Heller and McDonald.” — U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan, in Shepard v. Madigan, 2014 WL 4825592, *7 (S.D. Ill. 2014) (awarding attorney’s fees). See further http://stephenhalbrook.com/.

Mr. Halbrook has been engaged in civil litigation and criminal defense since 1978. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar, District of Columbia Bar, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals—all circuits, other federal courts. He has testified in U.S. Senate and House Committees on numerous firearm bills and on the nominations of executive branch and Supreme Court nominees. Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. (1978); Florida State University, Ph.D. Philosophy (1972). Assistant Professor of Philosophy 1972-81, George Mason University, Howard University, Tuskegee University. Senior Fellow, The Independent Institute.

Mr. Halbrook argued and won Castillo v. U.S., 530 U.S. 120 (2000); Printz v. U.S., 521 U.S. 898 (1997); U.S. v. Thompson/Center Arms Co., 504 U.S. 505 (1992). Co-counsel in Small v. U.S., 544 U.S. 385 (2005), and for NRA in McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010). Counsel for amici curiae 55 Senators, the Senate President, and 250 Representatives in D.C. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).

Books authored:

• The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or Privilege of the Ruling Class? (Post Hill Press 2021).
• Firearms Law Deskbook: Federal and State Criminal Practice (Thomson/West 2020).
• Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France: Tyranny and Resistance (2018).
• Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State” (2013).
• The Founders’ Second Amendment (2008, new ed. 2019). Cited in McDonald v. Chicago.
• Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms (1998). New edition: Securing Civil Rights (2010). Cited in McDonald v. Chicago and DC v. Heller.
• That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right (1984, new edition 2013). Cited in Printz v. U.S.