Below is a partial list of helpful references:
1993, A. Kronman, The Lost Lawyer: Failing Ideals of the Legal Profession.
1995, D.C. Bar, Legal Ethics Opinion 260 (lawyer-imposed restrictions on ethics reporting violate Rule 8.4.d)
1999 McDade Act (DOJ attorneys based in D.C. must comply with D.C. Ethics Rules)
2003, ABA, Explaining post-Enron Reforms to Rule 1.6 exponentially expanding the types of harm that attorneys must report or otherwise disclose.
2005, M. Frisch, No Stone Left Unturned: The Failure of Attorney Self-Regulation in the District of Columbia, 18 G’Town Jnl. of Legal Ethics 325.
2006, D.C. Court of Appeals, Introductory Scope to its Rules of Professional Conduct (warning that the Rules’ effectiveness depend on their enforcement).
2010, ABA, Resolution related to DOJ’s Under-Reporting of ethics violations by DOJ attorneys.
2011, T. Devine, The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide.
2011, D.C. Bar article re. Rule 8.3 mandates (stressing that each attorney has an independent duty to report).
2013, In Re. Martin (D.C. Ct. App) (effort to restrict ethics reporting violates Rule 8.4.d).
2014, Project on Government Oversight, Report related to DOJ Violations (re. continued problems of DOJ failures to report violations by DOJ attorneys).
2015, D. Suplee, Have Big Law Firms Lost Their Way? Law360.
2016, W. Shipp, Our Name Is New, But Our Mission Is Not, Washington Lawyer (warning that Bar the profession could lose the ability to police itself).
2018, S. Brill, Tailspin, at 29-33 (describing the descent of ethics in the legal profession over the past four decades)
2019, J. Rosen, Conversations with RBG, at 190 (expressing concern re. NDAs in the context of the MeToo movement: “I hope those agreements will not be enforced by the courts” ).
Ethics Rules: