Legal ethics

Ethics

Theoretical

Meta-ethics Consequentialism / Deontology / Virtue ethics Ethics of care Good and evil | Morality

Applied

Medical ethics / Bioethics Business ethics Environmental ethics Human rights / Animal rights Legal ethics Media ethics / Marketing ethics Ethics of war

Core issues

Justice / Value Right / Duty / Virtue Equality / Freedom / Trust Free will

Key thinkers

Aristotle / Confucius Aquinas / Hume / Kant / Bentham / Mill / Nietzsche Hare / Rawls / MacIntyre / Singer / Gilligan

Legal ethics is a branch of applied ethics, having to do with the study and application of what is right and wrong, good and bad in the practice of law.

In many places, lawyers are bound by an ethical code that is enforced either by a high court (such as State supreme courts in some American states) or by self-governing bar associations, which have the authority to discipline (up to and including disbarment) members who engage in unethical professional behavior. American law schools are required to offer a course in professional responsibility, which encompasses both legal ethics and matters of professionalism that do not present ethical concerns.

While legal codes of ethics differ from place to place, they tend to have some common statutes governing things such as conflicts of interest, incompetence, bribery, coercion, communications with jurors, coaching witnesses, and so on.

Every U.S. state has a regulatory body (usually called a state bar association) that polices lawyer conduct. When lawyers are licensed to practice in a state, they subject themselves to this authority, which in turn is generally overseen by the state courts. The state bar associations adopt a set of rules that specify the enforceable ethical duties that a lawyer owes to clients, the courts, and the profession. As of 2007, 47 states have adopted a version of the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct[1]. One state, New York, has a version of the ABA's older ethical model, the Model Code of Professional Responsibility. California and Maine are the only states that have not adopted either—instead these states have composed their own rules[2].

The Purpose of Law

One of the first questions that arises in legal question is that of the purpose of law, and especially the purpose or goal of the legal profession. Is the goal of the lawyer the pursuit o9f truth? The pursuit of justice? Winning the case for the client? Serving the court, the law, and the legal profession? Upholding the legal system? Some combination of those goals?

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Carle, Susan D., Ed., Lawyers' Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice: A Critical Reader, New York & London: New York University Press, 2005. ISBN 0814716393 (cloth; alk. paper) ISBN 9780814716397 (cloth; alk. paper) ISBN 0814716407 (pbk.; alk. paper) ISBN 9780814716403 (pbk.; alk. paper)
• Gerson, Allan, Ed., Lawyers' Ethics: Contemporary Dilemmas, New Brunswick, NJ & London, UK: Transaction Books, 1980. ISBN 0878552936
• Kaufman, Andrew L., Problems in Professional Responsibility, Law School Casebook Series, Boston & Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1976.
• Kronman, Anthony T., The Lost Lawyer: Falling Ideals of the Legal Profession, Cambridge MA & London, UK: Harvard University Press, 1993. ISBN 0674539265 (cloth) ISBN 0674539273 (pbk.)
• Linowitz, Sol M., with Martin Mayer, The Betrayed Profession: Lawyering at the End of the Twentieth Century, Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. ISBN 080185329X (pbk.)
• Nader, Ralph, and Wesley J. Smith, No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America, ISBN 0-375-75258-7
• California Rules of Professional Conduct, published by the Office of Professional Competence, Planning & Development of the State Bar of California.[3]

External links

• State Bar of California Professional Responsibility (Legal Ethics)
• New York Professional Responsibility Report (NYPRR)
• LII Law about... Professional Responsibility (Legal Ethics)
• The Legal Information Institute at Cornell University (U.S.)

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