Legal ethics
Legal ethics refers to the set of rules and standards governing the conduct of attorneys in their professional roles. Due to the complex nature of legal interpretation and representation, assessing a lawyer's credibility can be challenging, which is why many jurisdictions have established independent codes of ethics. In the United States, the American Bar Association (ABA) plays a crucial role in defining and overseeing these ethical standards, collaborating with law schools to ensure that legal education aligns with these principles. The foundations of legal ethics were laid in the 19th century, with significant developments occurring in the wake of events like the Watergate scandal, which underscored the necessity for clear ethical guidelines.
Key aspects of legal ethics include maintaining client confidentiality, appropriate compensation structures, and managing conflicts of interest. Attorneys are held to high standards regarding honesty and integrity, with specific prohibitions against making false statements. In response to technological advancements, the ABA has updated its guidelines to reflect the changing landscape of law practice, emphasizing the necessity for lawyers to understand the implications of modern technology. Additionally, recent rulings have addressed the use of language to promote inclusivity, highlighting ongoing discussions about the balance between free speech and ethical conduct. Ultimately, while state bar associations enforce these standards, they largely align with the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
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Legal ethics
Legal ethics describes the set of rules and standards applied to attorneys. Since the legal profession often involves interpreting laws, evidence, and clients' actions in ways that outsiders may not understand, measuring a lawyer's credibility by how well he or she knows or follows the law is difficult. Instead, legal professionals in many nations use an independent code of ethics, which details how lawyers are permitted to act with clients, juries, judges, and fellow lawyers.
In the United States, the American Bar Association (ABA) determines most legal ethics. The ABA is a group of legal professionals and students that oversees American lawyers and ensures that they are meeting ethical standards. They also work closely with law schools, helping to set curriculums and determine which schools are accredited as reliable institutions. Individual states have their own bar associations with jurisdiction over their respective professionals, though most of them follow the standards set by the ABA.
Brief History
Legal ethics as a distinct code first arose in the United States in the nineteenth century. In 1836, David Hoffman published a book called A Course of Legal Study, which outlined different principles that he felt lawyers should know. In the mid-nineteenth century, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice George Sharswood gave several speeches on ethics in legal settings. These were collected and released as a publication called Professional Ethics.
Later in the century, several lawyers and law professors agreed that legal study and practice was becoming increasingly complex. They felt that legal professionals should have a unifying body that would help them have access to the most up-to-date resources and information and make sure that practicing lawyers were serving the public to the best of their abilities. In 1878, a group of lawyers representing twenty states formed the American Bar Association. In 1887, the Alabama State Bar used the publications of Hoffman and Sharswood's teachings to draft the Alabama Code of Ethics. The ABA followed Alabama's example and created its own code, called the Canon of Ethics. In the 1960s, the organization held a committee that determined the canon needed changes. Their work resulted in the Model Code of Professional Responsibility.
One of the most significant events in American legal ethics was the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. When Republican US president Richard Nixon was campaigning for reelection, some of his lawyers were found to have participated in planning a break-in. The target was the Watergate complex, where the Democratic National Committee was headquartered. After the scandal had been exposed, one of the lawyers addressed ABA members. He said that since he was not working as a lawyer when he was involved with the break-in plot, he thought the ethical boundaries of his situation were unclear. This helped inspire a ruling from the ABA that lawyers were expected to follow the Model Code even if they were not currently active in a legal role. This meant that attorneys could be subject to disciplinary action from their state's bar association even if the violation occurred during their leisure time.
Overview
In light of the Watergate scandal, the ABA established a commission to begin reviewing the Model Code, trying to present legal ethics in a way that cleared up any confusion to legal professionals. After years of work and deliberation, the commission drafted the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which was approved in 1983. This replaced the Model Code and became the ABA's primary set of standards.
Some of the broad points legal ethics cover include the relationships between lawyers and their clients. One of the most essential parts of this relationship is confidentiality, which requires attorneys to keep clients' information secret unless it is used with client permission for the explicit purpose of building their case. Exceptions include situations where sharing the information could prevent death or serious damage from occurring. Lawyers also need to define what compensation clients can expect to receive for winning a case.
Regulations involving legal fees is another major area that ethics address. Laypeople frequently employ attorneys in desperate, time-sensitive situations, and attorneys' training is highly specialized. Therefore, it can be difficult for clients to compare different lawyers' skills before choosing one. Because of this, lawyers must follow limits on how much they can charge clients.
Another major point in legal ethics is conflict of interest. There are very specific rules about how attorneys must approach cases and clients that involve outside business or personal relationships. This can grow more complicated if a case has multiple defendants or plaintiffs, who may be seeking different outcomes.
Lawyers are also forbidden from making false statements. They are trained and expected to examine evidence and situations from different angles and perspectives. However, attorneys determined to be outright lying are subject to disciplinary action.
During the early twenty-first century, the ABA addressed the evolution and growing popularity of technology. Since the late twentieth century, the Internet has become accessible to the average American. Many people also have mobile devices that can easily take pictures and record sound and video. In 2012, the ABA modified its very first rule, emphasizing that lawyers are required to understand modern technology that could have an effect—positive or negative—on a case. The emphasis highlighted just how prevalent technology has become in court cases.
An ethics ruling added by the ABA in 2016 prohibited attorneys from using terminology that could be seen as offensive toward members of particular races, genders, or sexual orientations. This led to some controversy, as some lawyers argued that it restricted free speech. Detractors also pointed out that the ruling was unclear on precisely what terms were banned and that some terms were considered offensive in some regions or contexts but acceptable in others.
The ABA does not directly discipline attorneys or enforce the Model Rules. Instead the bar associations of individual states are responsible for maintaining standards of the legal professionals in their jurisdictions. Many lawyers believe that consistent standards and ethics are beneficial, so almost every state bar association has modeled its ethics after the ABA's rules.
Bibliography
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Geraghty, Peter. "History of U.S. Legal Ethics Standards." American Bar Association, Dec. 2016, www.americanbar.org/publications/youraba/2016/december-2016/a-brief-history-of-the-development-of-legal-ethics-standards-in-.html. Accessed 2 July 2017.
Hazard, Geoffrey, and Dondi, Angelo. Legal Ethics: A Comparative Study. Stanford University Press, 2004.
Jenson, Karin S., et al. "Ethics, Technology, and Attorney Competence." Georgetown University, www.law.georgetown.edu/cle/materials/ediscovery/2014/frimorndocs/ethicsinediscoverybakerhostetler.pdf. Accessed 2 July 2017.
"Legal Ethics." Duke, June 2017, law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/legale/. Accessed 3 July 2017.
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Taylor, Stuart. "Ethics and the Law: A Case History." The New York Times, 9 Jan. 1983, www.nytimes.com/1983/01/09/magazine/ethics-and-the-law-a-case-history.html?pagewanted=all. Accessed 5 July 2017.
Volokh, Eugene. "A Speech Code for Lawyers, Banning Viewpoints that Express 'Bias,' Including in Law-Related Social Activities." The Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/10/a-speech-code-for-lawyers-banning-viewpoints-that-express-bias-including-in-law-related-social-activities-2/?utm‗term=.1e1c059f8ddd. Accessed 5 July 2017.