CONTEST RESULTS:
Thanks to everyone who participated. Declaring the winner is strictly my prerogative and in addition to be arbitrary and capricious, my decision is utterly lacking in any rational basis.
Winner: "Legal ethics is to actual ethics as gold is to the golden rule," submitted by PLR. It has enough cynicism to be tongue in cheek or brutally accurate, depending upon your view. It alludes to the mercenary aspect of legal ethics rules, but also can be read more sympathetically as suggesting that legal ethics deals with reality and not with the meta-physical. If PLR will shoot me an email, I will be glad to send along the prize. (You might want to take a closer look at that Amazon link to see if you still want to claim the prize.)
Runner-up: What can I say about the insightful and indefatigable Patrick O'Donnell? We're always glad to see his comments. My only problem with his entries was that they were so substantive and so numerous that I had to research some of them to grasp them.
Honorable Mention: John Bickers for "legal ethics is to actual ethics as legal tender is to actual tenderness." Like the winning entry, this one plays off the monetary against the human.
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C'mon readers, we can do better than that. Post your entries in the comments and the winner (selected solely in my discretion) will get a copy of this book. We are looking for entries that begin "legal ethics is to real ethics as . . . ."
UPDATE: I realize that I slightly altered the tone of the comparison. Volokh's original was "legal ethics is to actual ethics . . . ." I got that correct in the title of this post, but then used the formula, "legal ethics is to real ethics . . . . " So in your submissions, you can use "actual" or "real" or just drop the adjectives and go with "legal ethics is to ethics . . . . "
UPDATE 2: The contest is almost over, but I will give people through Saturday to add suggestions.
(Nod to Sasha Volokh's comment in Paul Cassell's post, via Althouse)
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as neo-classical economics is to classical political economy.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as Peter Singer's preference utilitarianism is to utilitarianism in general.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as John Rawls is to Immanuel Kant.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as physics is to the philosophy of science.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as the United Nations is to human rights.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as "law and economics" literature is to apologias for capitalism.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as bioethics is to "just health."
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as academics are to intellectuals.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as reductionist theories of consciousness are to philosophy of mind.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as la Terreur was to the French Revolution.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as the Bolshevik Party was to Marxism.
Well, that'll do for now.
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | June 09, 2008 at 11:28 AM
One more: legal ethics is to actual ethics as the Ramayana is to Vishnu.
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | June 09, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Yet another (you now get a sense of how badly I want to win that book!): Legal ethics is to actual ethics as fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) is to the Shariah (God's Will or Divine Law).
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | June 09, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Patrick,
Great entries. Your last one is close to mine:
"Legal ethics is to ethics as law is to justice."
But, rest assured that I have declared myself ineligible for the award.
Posted by: John Steele | June 09, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as Sasha Volokh is to Eugene Volokh: the former is vaguely inspired by the latter.
I think highly of both legal ethics and ethics more generally (and of both Volokhs), so this is intended to be a compliment!
Posted by: Andrew Perlman | June 09, 2008 at 12:23 PM
... as blawgs are to law reviews.
Posted by: rbnn | June 09, 2008 at 12:36 PM
rbnn,
Given what they say about law reviews, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about legal ethics.
Posted by: John Steele | June 09, 2008 at 12:45 PM
John,
Some of the entries were intended to have family resemblance to Sasha's, sans the cynicism, others, like yours, were intended to be taken a bit more seriously.
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | June 09, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as legal fictions are to actual fictions; or
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as legal tender is to actual tenderness.
Posted by: John Bickers | June 09, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Legal ethics is to real ethics as iPod is to IMAX.
Posted by: rbnn | June 09, 2008 at 01:48 PM
OK, a few more, and that's it:
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as the law of contract is to the (ethical) theory of promises.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as constitutional law is to democratic theory.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as Major League baseball is to the Wittgensteinian picture of games.
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as "just war" ethics is to the theory of violence.
Posted by: Patrick S. O'Donnell | June 09, 2008 at 02:16 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as law school is to the bar exam: vaguely similar, but if you only excel at one, you're up the proverbial creek.
Posted by: Joe | June 09, 2008 at 02:40 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as American League baseball is to National League baseball.
Posted by: Ryan Juliano | June 09, 2008 at 02:49 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as the Bohr model of the electron is to an actual electron. Significantly simplified and constrained.
Posted by: Judith | June 09, 2008 at 02:51 PM
I like Joe's but I think it's actually:
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as the bar exam is to legal practice.
Vaguely related, and required, but not nearly sufficient.
Posted by: Judith | June 09, 2008 at 02:52 PM
Judith,
Quite correct. Blame the inaccuracy on my current bar-exam-studying myopia.
Posted by: Joe | June 09, 2008 at 03:02 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics
... as a white wedding dress is to virginity.
... as sex education is to sex.
... as The US Code is to the Constitution.
... as a fox guarding a chicken coop is to Dirty Harry.
Posted by: John | June 09, 2008 at 03:13 PM
... as FoodTV is to dinner.
Posted by: Texigor | June 09, 2008 at 03:56 PM
John,
I think that first you should tell us what "real" ethics means, or whose definition we're to use.
Monroe
Posted by: Monroe Freedman | June 09, 2008 at 03:57 PM
Monroe,
That's open to your interpretation, should you care to comment. (And I hope you do.)
Posted by: John Steele | June 09, 2008 at 04:00 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as the "War on Terror" is to actual war.
Posted by: RM | June 09, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Legal ethics is to ethics as the zune is to the ipod.
Posted by: Just Saying | June 09, 2008 at 04:09 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as dancing is to sex. You go through similar motions, but it just doesn't serve the same purpose.
Though I like the "as law is to justice" suggestion.
Posted by: Matthew K | June 09, 2008 at 04:23 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as gold is to the golden rule: according to a Pew Research telephone survey of 518 corporate general counsel, with zero margin of error.
Posted by: PLR | June 09, 2008 at 04:30 PM
Legal ethics is to actual ethics as religion is to philosophy.
Posted by: Vindbag | June 09, 2008 at 04:33 PM