Preface and Issue Overview

This issue of the Manitoba Law Journal is our annual Underneath the Golden Boy edition. This means that the contributions in this volume are largely focused on the actions taken by, and issues around, the legislative and executive branches of government, rather than focusing on the courts. In Andrew Flavelle Martin’s first contribution in this volume (“Loyalty, Conscience, and Withdrawal: Are Government Lawyers Different?”), the author considers the somewhat unique”” position of government lawyers when the client asks the lawyer to do something that the lawyer considers unethical. Martin believes that there are unique scenarios that can arise for government lawyers. He goes on to consider the obligations of the Attorney General when his or her Cabinet colleagues (or others within government) make demands of him or her that are inconsistent with the ethical obligations of the Attorney General as a lawyer, or which so violate the conscience of the lawyer that continued representation of the client becomes difficult or impossible