book I offer a decidedly different perspective. It is, admittedly, not entirely without personal and professional bias. Prior to becoming a fu- time academic, teaching bioethics in the setting of an academic medical center, I was, for nearly 20 years, an attorney specializing in health law. Even after earning a doctorate in philosophy, I was frequently considered to be the ¿resident lawyer¿ on the bioethics faculty, much more frequently looked to for my insights on the law than my perspective as one who had formally studied moral philosophy and applied ethics. I note this not out ofa sense of frustration or disappointment, but as confirmation that even among physicians and n- physician bioethicists, there is widespread recognition that the law does have important contributions to make in assessing the practice ofmedicine and the conduct of medical research.