An inherent aspect of the profession and its development relates to professional ethics and the conduct of professionals. This understanding led Prof. Katvan (in collaboration with colleagues) to conduct a number of studies about relations among lawyers as well as relations between lawyers and judges. The studies focus in particular on the question of professional honor (for example “Honor and Respect, the Private and Professional among Lawyers”; “‘A Perfect Façade?’: Transparency, Honor and Judicial Scarce Resources,” which as the title suggests also addresses the link between scarce resources and professional honor) and questions of civility among professionals. In this context he prepared a book-length research paper on judicial ethics, based on decisions of the Ombudsman of the Israeli Judiciary, which is intended for use by judges in the course of their work. As in his research on the profession and ethics of medicine, where he examined the effects of the law, so too in examining the legal profession and ethics I explore how legal tools that are implemented in medical practice are also suited to the law (for example, “Informed Consent to Legal Treatment – Lessons from Medical Informed Consent”).

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A. Eyal Katvan, “The “Overcrowding the Profession” Argument and the Professional Melting Pot”, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION (2013)  

In 2012, fourteen law schools operated in Israel: four within universities and ten at private colleges. The number of law students at colleges and accredited attorneys who graduated from the colleges greatly exceeds the number of university law students and alumnae. There is consensus among the leadership of the Israel Bar that law colleges (the newcomers) are responsible for Israel's overpopulation of lawyers and for the legal profession's decline in prestige. Twenty years after the first law colleges were established, the time has come to inquire whether this argument of overcrowding of the profession presents a new ‘discovery’ or rather the recycling of a standard dynamic between professionals and legal education institutions. The present article examines this issue by evaluating several options: is the profession's ‘over-crowdedness’ argument an attempt to protect the public, an attempt to prevent competition and to elevate status or rather – as has not been previously suggested – is it an artificial argument aimed (perhaps also unconsciously) at creating a professional melting pot?

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B. Eyal Katvan, “Overcrowding the Profession” – An Artificial Argument?. 3(3) OÑATI SOCIO-LEGAL SERIES [online], (2013) 409

It has been claimed that Israel has the highest per capital rate of lawyers in the world, resulting in belief that the Israel Bar is overpopulated. The first law colleges, which were established 20 years ago, are newcomers to the production of legal professions. The leadership of the Israel Bar have held the law colleges responsible for Israel’s overpopulation of lawyers and for the legal profession’s decline in prestige. This paper examines whether the perception of overcrowding of the profession is a new “discovery” or rather the recycling of a standard dynamic between professionals and legal education institutions. While this paper focuses specifically on Israel, concern about the overpopulation of the profession has become a central concern in many other jurisdictions.

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Chemi Ben-Noon, Boaz Shnoor, Eyal Katvan, “Judges ‘Perception of Lawyers’ Behavior in Court”, Hamishpat Law Journal (2015) (in Hebrew). 

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Eyal Katvan, Boaz Shnoor, “Between Civility and Reputation”, 15 Hamishpat (2010) 71 (in Hebrew).

The Supreme Court, in a majority opinion, held that a lawyer is immune against defamation actions regarding all statements made during judicial proceedings. However, the court ruled that a lawyer may be subjected to disciplinary procedures by the Bar. The court’s ruling blurs the distinction between the ethical and disciplinary aspects of defamation on the one hand and its civil aspects on the other. Our argument is that disciplinary procedures by the Bar cannot and should not substitute libel suits, because. They have different goals and the interests represented in each of them are separate. Moreover, the option to impose disciplinary sanctions for defamation uttered during a hearing undermines the same rationale of the libel suit defense: keeping and protecting free speech in court.

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Eyal Katvan and Boaz Shnoor, Don Quixote de la Corte: Serial Litigants, Emotions, and Access to Justice, OÑATI SOCIO-LEGAL SERIES, FORTHCOMING: “TOO MUCH LITIGATION?”: FACTS, REASONS, CONSEQUENCES, AND SOLUTIONS

Serial litigants are a well-known phenomenon. This article deals with this phenomenon on two different levels using Israel as a test-case. First, we analyze the burden serial litigants put on the judicial system as a whole, and the institutional responses to that burden, as well as the impact (both positive and negative) such serial litigants have on other people (especially in total institutions). they Second, we analyze the personal motives of serial litigants and identify their common denominators. We then show that serial litigants do not constitute a monolithic group, and suggest that courts have to take the differences between them into account. We compare serial litigants to people who suffer from health-related anxiety and suggest learning from their experience. We further propose the formulation of systemic tools that take into account both the negative and the positive aspects of serial litigants in order to strike a proper balance between the optimal allocation of resources, and the right of access to justice.

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A Eyal Katvan and Boaz Shnoor, “Court’s Precious Time: Transparency, Honor and Judicial Scarce Resources”, 7(4) Oñati Socio-Legal Series (2017) 825

While many judicial systems in the Western World are coping with a shortage of judges, the public is not always aware of the overload and its reasons. Our claim is that the reason for this, is the fact that the judicial system preferred to preserve an ideal image of the judiciary and control all information about it, rather than to publicize the judicial overload problem. In this paper, we aim to show that until recently, the issue of “judicial overload” was hidden from the public eye. We deal with the importance and advantageous of presenting the relevant facts to the public. We shall empirically show, that the judicial system has begun to legitimize the exposure of judicial overload to the public.

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B. Eyal Katvan and Boaz Shnoor, “A Perfect Façade?”: Transparency, Honor and Judicial Scarce Resources”, 26(1) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, (2018) 143

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Boaz Shnoor and Eyal Katvan, “Informed Consent to Legal Treatment – Lessons from Medical Informed Consent", 24(2) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION (2017) 125

Lawyers are their clients’ representatives, and therefore, they are expected to follow their clients’ wishes. On the other hand, in order to best serve their clients’ interests, they are supposed to act according to their best professional judgement. These two duties sometimes conflict. In this article, we use empirical and theoretical methods, comparing Israeli and American law, and relying on lessons from the medical profession, to investigate the limits of the lawyer’s duties to find out her client’s wishes, to seek the client’s approval to the lawyer’s actions, and to inform her client about future actions and about development in the case. The results of a lawyers’ survey and a clients’ survey that we conducted show that clients wish to be more involved in their cases than they currently are: they wish that lawyers would give them more information about the case and more frequently ask for their consent. Moreover, we show that theoretical arguments favor such an approach, and that this approach is the law in the medical profession. However, analyzing Israeli and US jurisprudence, it seems that the law is willing only to indicate an overall, non-specific duty to inform, but leaves the decision power with the lawyers. We therefore call for legal reform.

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Limor Zer-Gutman, Eyal Katvan and Boaz Shnoor, “Honor and Respect, the Private and Professional among Lawyers”, 11 Din Udvarim (2018) 457 (in Hebrew). 

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Eyal katvan, Limor Zer-Gutman, Neta Ziv, “Lawyers in Israel: Numbers, Make-Up and Modes of Practices - What Can Facts tell us about the State of the Profession?”, in LAWYERS IN SOCIETY (ed. By Richard Abel, Ulrike Schultz, Hilary Sommerlad and Ole Hammerslev, Hart Publishing, forthcoming 2020)

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