Assessing Lawyers' Ethics: A Practitioners' Guide

Cover......Page 1
Frontmatter......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
List of figures......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 13
1.1 Professionalism versus commercialism: An opportunity for law societies......Page 14
1.2 Standing aside from self-interest......Page 19
1.3 Ethics at the centre of professionalism......Page 23
1.4 Younger lawyers\' disconnection: Older lawyers\' denial......Page 27
1.5 Ethics assessments as `central value propositions\'......Page 29
1.6 Preventing public intervention......Page 31
2.1 Education without assessment is wasted effort......Page 33
2.2 Representative Australian cases of ethical dysfunction......Page 34
2.3 North American experience: Over-zealous and over-dependent......Page 42
2.4 Conflicting loyalties inside large UK and US firms......Page 47
2.5 Research into lawyers\' ethics......Page 51
2.6 Core qualities of professional activity......Page 61
3.1 Awareness of ethical issues......Page 75
3.2 Ethical approaches or methods......Page 77
3.3 Lawyers\' ethical types......Page 85
3.4 Strengths and weaknesses of the dominant approach to legal ethics......Page 88
3.5 Ethical complexity......Page 94
3.6 Ethical complexity and moral courage: The requirement to judge......Page 100
3.7 From virtue to courage......Page 104
4.1 Virtuous lawyers as acute businessmen and women......Page 105
4.2 Information barriers as paradigms of ethics versus business......Page 106
4.3 The apparent conflict between law as a profession or as a business......Page 108
4.4 Connecting personal values to ethical consciousness......Page 111
4.5 Testing lawyers\' competence, and indirectly their ethics......Page 114
4.6 Institutional structures in support of individuals\' ethics: Regulation of incorporated legal practices......Page 128
4.7 The credibility of legal risk management......Page 129
4.8 Post-admission training in competence and ethics: Not making enough progress......Page 132
4.9 The need for practitioner opinion......Page 137
5.1 Why consider practitioners\' views?......Page 139
5.2 Quantitative ranking of legal professionalism (ethics) issues......Page 141
5.3 Practitioners\' concerns for professionalism......Page 144
5.4 Conclusion to concerns for professionalism......Page 148
5.5 The climate for psychological testing for honesty and integrity......Page 149
5.6 Significance of studies of lawyer attributes and personality......Page 151
5.7 Assessing psychological health......Page 155
5.8 Unravelling honesty and dishonesty......Page 160
5.9 Assessing trustworthiness and integrity......Page 163
5.10 Psychological testing for integrity......Page 165
5.11 Recommendations: Assessing psychological preparedness for legal practice......Page 172
5.12 Possible questions for practitioners about trust and integrity issues......Page 173
6.1 The relevance of the past......Page 176
6.2 Disclosable prior offences in Victoria......Page 178
6.3 Can clients fairly assess their lawyers\' ethics?......Page 185
6.5 Client satisfaction as an indicator of `quality\'......Page 186
6.6 Client rating of interpersonal skills and accountability......Page 189
6.7 Client file audits......Page 193
6.8 Opinions of corporate clients......Page 197
6.10 Recommendations: Developing character through disciplinary histories and client opinion......Page 198
7.1 Towards assessment of lawyers\' ethics......Page 201
7.2 Being aware of (personal) values and emotions......Page 204
7.3 Research assessments of ethics and `complex judgment\'......Page 208
7.4 The Melbourne Study: Lawyers\' awareness of values and ethics......Page 216
7.5 Awareness promotes intentionality......Page 220
7.6 Measuring a lawyer\'s preference for an ethical type......Page 222
7.7 Summary methodology for scale development......Page 225
7.8 Implications for a comprehensive scale for assessing lawyers\' ethics......Page 226
7.9 Assessing ethics through peer interview......Page 227
7.10 Template example of a peer interview assessing lawyers\' ethics......Page 231
7.11 Accumulating assessment ratings to produce a composite rating or index......Page 233
7.12 Consequences of an inadequate assessment rating......Page 234
7.13 Recommendations: Achieving and sustaining lawyers\' ethics......Page 236
8.1 Improvements, not solutions......Page 238
8.2 The Melbourne Study and CPD......Page 241
8.3 Evidence for the effect of CLE......Page 243
8.4 Continuing opportunities for law societies......Page 244
8.5 The cost benefits of ethics assessment......Page 247
8.6 Overall recommendations......Page 249
Appendix A - Research methods......Page 253
Appendix B - Awareness of ethical type......Page 263
Appendix C - Prototype scale of preference for legal ethical type......Page 267
Index......Page 270