A second way to advance legal education toward counselling education is to take regular courses at law school to provide more knowledge and understanding needed to make informed judgments about alternative legal strategies. The Socratic method, used for counselling, would lead students to engage in arguments of give-and-take on the value of various legal strategies in light of the consideration of social justice and notions of the good life in a constitutional democracy (Gutmann 1993, 366). One of the ways lawyers can increase their fees is by lengthening the discovery process and making endless claims on the other side, with the clock ticking all the time for legal fees. In addition to simply extending the procedure to milk the case for as much money as possible, it is also possible to do so to force an opponent to admit because the opponent lacks money for legal fees even if the opponent was right or had the best case. This is very often done to win a case through intimidation – the threat of bankrupting the other party by prolonging the proceedings and forcing the other party to bury themselves in the ground, whether the other party is guilty or innocent of the allegations against them. This is clearly unethical, but it has become standard procedure in many court cases and for many lawyers and law firms. A lawyer is sometimes faced with the question of representing two or more clients whose interests are in conflict with each other. Regardless of their ethical obligations, global legal systems generally prohibit a lawyer from representing a client whose interests conflict with those of another, unless both agree. Legal ethics refers to the code of conduct that governs and guides the conduct of individuals within the legal profession.
This definition includes not only how the lawyer interacts with the client, but also the duty to the general public. Linowitz says the law and the law have changed dramatically since then. Now it`s about making as much money as possible, doing as many billable hours as possible, earning at all costs, and developing a range of techniques that can be pursued for the benefit of the customer. The idea of a lawyer as a wise person serving the common good has become curious and largely unknown. Linowitz and others criticize law schools and what is taught in them, as well as the attitudes promoted there, the growth of large law firms (some with as many as a thousand or more lawyers) and partnerships, the high fees, and the desire to make as much money as possible and do whatever it takes to win as the biggest corrupting influences. This leads to an unethical attitude and system prevalent within the legal profession today, at least as it exists in the United States. For a defense attorney in a criminal proceeding, the additional question is whether it is ethically permissible to defend a client whose lawyer knows is guilty and whether it is ethically permissible to attack a witness against his client and try to discredit him if you know that the witness`s testimony is true and accurate. The usual and probably best answer to these questions, given the existence of the adversarial system, is that it is not the task or function of the defense attorney as his client`s lawyer to determine what is true and who is telling the truth and whether the client is guilty or innocent – these are decisions that must be made by the jury and/or judge. According to this view, the appropriate ethical attitude of the defence is to assume that the client is innocent and that the witnesses against the client are false or false, and to make every effort to maintain this view until the judge or jury has decided otherwise. However, this attitude, if the lawyer wants to serve his client in the best possible way, often puts him in a position where he has to do things in legal proceedings that would be considered highly unethical if they were conducted in normal life outside of these proceedings.
In many countries, professional associations of lawyers have attempted to impose the principles of ethical conduct in writing, but a written code is not essential. Ethical principles can exist both through general understanding and in the literature and writings of the profession. However, a code makes the ethically binding principles readily available to the practitioner (and the public), thus helping to ensure wider adherence to these principles. If such a code exists, it usually contains both general ethical principles and specific rules for specific problems of professional ethics. But no code can foresee all the ethical problems that may arise in legal practice. As a result, in many jurisdictions, the Codes are supplemented by notices issued and published by committees of Bar Associations. Of course, the interests of the client and the company do not always coincide, and the principles of legal ethics do not always indicate the lawyer`s obligations in such situations. Should a lawyer cross-examine an opposing witness in a way that undermines or destroys his or her testimony if he or she believes that the witness is actually telling the truth? Can he rely on rules of evidence to exclude points that would speak against his case, but that he believes to be true or probable? Can he take advantage of the mistakes of an inexperienced opponent? Should he request a jury trial in order to delay such a trial if such a trial would not benefit his client? These questions can be answered differently in legal systems that operate under different premises. A system in which a lawyer presents a client`s case in the most legally permissible light and in which the court must decide on the merits may well lead to different responses from those of a system that gives greater priority to the lawyer`s obligation to the State to ensure the proper administration of justice. The word “ethics” is derived from the Greek word ethos (character) and the Latin word mores (customs). Together, they define how individuals interact with each other.
In philosophy, ethics defines what is good for the individual and for society, and establishes the nature of the duties that people have towards themselves and towards each other. Ethics in legal practice are monitored by bar associations and court decisions in the United States, the latter of which carry more weight and are used to enforce the Code. Lawyers may be disciplined for violations of ethical rules. If I`m right, it seems that the pure lawyer who dutifully adheres to her limited role, far from being a morally good person, will have ample opportunity to become the opposite – if she isn`t already. For it is thus placed in a professional climate conducive to injustice rather than justice; false instead of truthful; not motivated by a moral attitude rather than morally courageous; illiberal instead of liberal; Insensitive instead of benevolent, morally irresponsible instead of morally autonomous. In short, it will fall well below the minimum standards of a morally good person (Cohen 1985, 355). In Anglo-American legal systems, prohibition has three aspects. First, a lawyer is not allowed to represent two or more clients at the same time if, in order to promote the interests of one, he must refrain from representing the conflicting interests of another.
In short, it cannot be both for and against a customer. Second, he cannot later accept a job from another to reverse what he had been retained to do before. Third, he cannot accept further employment of others in the case of the use, appearance of use or possible use of confidential information received from his former client. Such actions are prohibited by law and legal ethics. Another major area of legal ethics and responsibility concerns client interests and client confidentiality. Suppose the client wants to do something that the lawyer deems reckless or illegal? Should the lawyer tell the client or should he continue as if the client was right? What happens if the client discloses to the lawyer that he intends to commit a crime? What if he discovers an ongoing crime? Should the lawyer continue as before, or is it his responsibility to inform the authorities of the crime that may be committed or will continue to be committed? If a lawyer commits professional misconduct or fails to represent his client as prescribed, the client may seek advice from a lawyer for legal errors.