As professionals uniquely tasked with upholding the rule of law, lawyers can't lie. But lawyers do lie—often. Consider: My client was not the shooter; the voting machines were defective; your client was speeding; the property is worth 10 times what you are offering; nothing in the record supports your claim. Assume these representations are all about material facts in a legal dispute, they are not simply a lawyer's belief, or her opinion. If they were, then a lawyer could lie about anything and claim it's just her opinion as to the fact. Assume these statements are untrue. But the question is whether they violate the professional rules of ethics.