The Ethics Of A Practising Solicitor Essay

This paper aims to explore the Legal Services Act 2007 and the impact the Act has had on the role of a Costs Lawyer since implementation.

On my visit to the Kingsford Legal Centre (KLC) I was firstly challenged to remain professional by a conflict of my morals and my ethical obligations. Client 1 was seeking advice on his charge regarding drink driving, which I find morally wrong. In hindsight, I can see that between getting my brief and meeting Client 1, I applied Parker and Evan’s three stages of ethical decision making to this conflict (2014: 16). I had to become aware of what Foster refers to as ‘subjective bias’ created through socialization, and use critical thinking to recognize that I was judging the client through my preconceived values (2003: 34). I could then apply my personal morals which obligate me to be respectful of those I am providing service for, and the Australian

An attorney’s reputation is built by the care taken in brief writing. The judge generally is influenced by an attorney’s brief than by any other form of argument made; therefore, the brief carries persuasive impact, for good or bad, not only for a current client but all future ones. Linda H. Edwards, Legal Writing and Analysis, 167 (4th ed. 2015). Although the six duties of ethical conduct in brief-writing are equally relevant, I have placed six duties of ethical conduct in the following order, in the order of highest importance to least importance.

A lawyer’s duty to the court and administration of justice is paramount. The driving ethical duty is the paramount duty imposed on a lawyer, the duty to the court and the administration of justice. Rondel

The concept of mandatory pro bono and whether or not lawyers should be required to participate in this public service has been the contentious subject of debate over recent years. Focusing on Mirko Bagaric and Penny Dimopoulos’ statement: “In our view not only do lawyers not have a duty to act for free, but they are misguided in doing so and should, for the long term benefit of the community, cease engaging in pro bono work,” this essay will critically analyse the implications of introducing mandatory pro bono into the legal profession by examining both the positive and negative aspects through the issues of altruism, tradition, government funding and the onus on small firms.

I recently came across a piece titled “Lawyers as Upholders of Human Dignity (When They Aren’t Busy Assaulting It)” written by law professor, David Luban. He looked at the hypothesis “that upholding human dignity is what makes the practice of law worthwhile.” I completely agree with this statement because it’s what I believe makes being an attorney worthwhile. The essay as a whole covers a multitude of legal ethical issues, but Luban offers some interesting arguments that I would briefly like to point out.

Some lawyers are brash and rude. Sure, they may be successful but that does not give them the right to be uncivil.

London is the hub of United Kingdom and people there in this plan will frequently refer to it as the center of the epicenter of the world; containing many bar and club keep working all over the week, public transportation and taxi also keep working at all times, it really is a place where there is not any period of time spent sleeping. On the other hand, there is a depressing aspect to living in this type of a busy, wild noise of society and it is the truth that you are very much near to hazard. The London Metropolitan Police Force has to cope with suffered ones of assault on a daily basis, with respect to its inherent nature; such happenings are unluckily going on with almost

When everyone thinks about a lawyer a lot of things come to mind, some think of us as bad some see us as good. Since I want to be a lawyer myself someone might think “Well what is this 15-year-old girl thinking when she says she wants to be a lawyer?”, I can tell you exactly that. Throw a lawyer into the ocean full of sharks, why don't they get eaten? The reason is because sharks don’t eat their own kind.

The New York Lawyer’s Code of Professional Responsibility outlines 9 Canons with Ethical Considerations and Disciplinary Rules for each. The canons cover basic expectations

For instance, both lawyers and accountants have agreed on profession-specific codes of professional conduct, and physicians still frequently take the Hippocratic oath. Regarding management consultants the professional associations have formulated different sets of ethical rules. The contents of the individual codes either specify what professional conduct is or they indicate what cannot be considered as professional conduct. However, it is also obvious that professional rules only serve as overall ethical guidelines. The consequence of this is that the professional when practising is exposed to several more specific ethical issues for which there is no explicit or written solution.

The SRA Code of Conduct represents an ambitious attempt to merge consumer protection and professionalism. As it stands, the regulatory framework of the legal profession was established by the Legal Services Act, 2007 . Further to this, section 12 of the legislation outlines six legal activities that may only be executed by authorized

An ethical perspective plays a vital role in understanding the duties and responsibilities required by lawyers in their profession, but is also necessary as stated by Parker and Evans “to judge what rules should be made (on a professional level) and also to decide (on a personal level) what the rules mean, how to obey them…” The four main approaches to legal ethics include adversarial advocacy; responsible lawyering; moral activism; and ethics of care, each of which identify different standards and values used to resolve issues. The adversarial approach, often referred to as the ‘amoral’ one , remains the predominant approach and conception of a lawyer’s role and ethics in Australia. As well as through these approaches, a lawyer’s obligations are demonstrated in

The lawyer in this case has an obligation to the child under the virtue theory, the lawyer must exhibit strong core moral values such as integrity, non- maleficence, and justice and fairness when approaching this case. Since the lawyer suspects that the couple he is representing is involved in illicit drug use, it is his responsibility to work in the child’s best interest. Though his professional role is to represent and ‘win’ the case against the adoptive parents, the lawyer must remain virtuous (as a human being) and consider what he morally ‘ought’ to do to ensure the welfare of the child involved. The virtue of caring and concern is paramount in this case. Under the virtue theory, the lawyer must show strong moral character as well as caring and concern for the wellbeing and future of this child, in spite of the legal leverage his clients may have.

The Legal Services Board was created under the Legal Services Act 2007 to promote particular principles within the legal profession, one of these being to ‘encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession’. An important aspect of this is the idea of a ‘diverse’ profession; is this really an issue which can be resolved within the profession, or does the encouragement of diversity have to begin right at the start of a person’s legal education? In this essay I will discuss different ways in which attempts have been made to improve diversity within the legal profession and how effective these have been. I will then discuss the importance of law school in shaping the attitudes and values of the legal minds in this