The Clarke Family Legal Ethics Conference & CLE is an annual event dedicated to professional responsibility. This program is made possible by the Harvey and Harriet Clarke Fund for Professionalism and Ethics. The Fund, established in 1980, supports Gonzaga Law’s commitment to legal ethics for both students and practicing attorneys.
Harvey Clarke was a respected jurist, and the Clarke family was active in the Spokane, Washington, community. Harvey and Harriet’s legacy continued through one of their children, William “Bill” Clarke, who served as a beloved professor at Gonzaga Law School from 1975 to 2005. Known for his dedication to professionalism and ethics, Bill Clarke was a favorite professor among students and colleagues alike.
2026 Conference Title: "Good Faith and Public Trust in an Erosive Era"
Topic Description: Public confidence in legal institutions is under strain. High-profile litigation, political polarization, and growing skepticism toward courts and lawyers have intensified scrutiny of what “good faith” lawyering requires—and who decides. This distrust is partly by design, promoted by elected leaders—and the lawyers who represent them—seeking to weaken democratic institutions that check executive power. At the same time, a rising number of lawyers from across the profession have gone to court to fight back, while also stepping beyond traditional advocacy roles to engage in public protest, raising foundational questions about the boundaries between professional responsibility, personal conscience, and democratic accountability. This program examines how the ideal of good-faith lawyering is being contested at the center of democratic conflict: showing how it is tested by government lawyers who stretch it to the breaking point, while identifying the ways in which it is being defended in court and beyond, when lawyers challenge the very institutions they serve. Drawing on emerging scholarship at the intersection of professional regulation, democratic backsliding, and the First Amendment, the panel will explore whether—and when—lawyers reinforce or destabilize public trust. Attendees will leave with a principled framework for navigating ethical obligations in an era where fidelity to the rule of law may require both restraint and resistance.
Date: April 16, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. PDT
This is an in-person event and has approval for 1.5 Washington Ethics CLE credits.  (A certificate will be provided for attendees needing credit in other states).
Registration:
Interested in attending?
2026 Panelists
- , Robert Henigson Professor of Legal Ethics and Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
- , Professor of Law and the Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics, º£½ÇÂÛ̳ of Houston Law Center
Moderator: Abe Ritter, Assistant Professor, Gonzaga Law School
Have questions? Email lawalumnievents@gonzaga.edu.