Legal Ethics

Since 1976, the VSBO disciplinary board has been only a body oF unauthorized individuals with no judicial authority created by fiat by the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Current research and evidence supports that Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia State Bar Organization routinely commit violations of the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The interests of justice demand an impartial tribunal , but the Court refused to request that the Virginia General Assembly to preside over the appeal of the Appellant’s matters and the appeals of all other misconduct and impairment matters involving attorneys practicing law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

On June 25, 2019, the Supreme Court of Virginia refused to ask the Virginia General Assembly appoint an impartial tribunal and dismissed all related Motions for the same.

The most important thing to understand before dealing with any ethical issues in the legal profession is the concept of legal ethics itself.  The Word “Ethic” has been defined in deferent ways by various scholars and global dictionaries. But for the purpose of this article, I define Ethic as a certain discipline that deal with both sides of our behaviour (bad and good) as human being. Therefore, for purpose of this study, ethics are set of rules or principles being moral or legal that govern a person's behaviour and the conduct of various people in their profession. 

Then what is Legal Ethics? According to various dictionaries, legal ethics are the minimum standards of appropriate conduct within the legal profession. It is the behavioural norms and morals which govern the conduct of judges and lawyers.  Legal ethics can also refer to the study or observance of roles and duties of lawyers or the written regulations governing those duties and roles.

Some of Law and Economics’ basic claims have come to be criticized as a result of empirical findings that question their viability. Particularly, the premise that agents consistently act rationally and with their self-interest in mind seems problematic. What the consequences of the criticism mean for Law and Economics’ tenability depends largely on the questions whether (1) some elements are unassailable to the alternative’s objections and (2) the alternative is a systematic whole. It is argued that Law and Economics may be salvaged, if it is minimized and its ambitions are tempered. This means focusing on the stable, a priori, elements inherent to it.

יציאה אל השטח" (עם סטודנטים): ,תובנות פרקטיות (ופדגוגיות
המאמר מנתח מקרה שבו המחבר "יצא אל השטח" עם סטודנטים, לצורך ביסוס ראייתי של תיק שמצוי בייצוג הקליניקה המשפטית במסגרתו הוא פועל. המחבר מונה את היתרונות של היציאה אל השטח במקרה הקונקרטי המתואר, הן מבחינה פרקטית (חיזוק הקייס והעצמת הלקוח), והן מבחינה פדגוגית (הכשרתם המשפטית של הסטודנטים). בהמשך, מנסח המחבר הצעה ראשונית לקווים מנחים ביחס לנסיבות בהן יציאה אל השטח תהיה אפקטיבית עבור עורכי דין, תוך התייחסות מיוחדת לעורכי דין לשינוי חברתי ולמנחים קליניים.

Over at least the past 32 years, the Virginia State Bar Organization, a mandatory trade organization, has imposed Public Discipline on only minorities, women, solo practitioners and small firm members with no influence.

The Virginia State Bar Organizational Chart and the data from the Virginia State Bar Organization speak for themselves.

INTRODUCTION That lawyers must strive to maintain their independence as professional advisers is an old cliché. He must act with secrecy, fidelity, diligence and in the best interest of his client. However, he is subject to a higher ideal; justice and the good of the society.

Although FASD is first and foremost a health issue, it is a consideration in the justice system because individuals with FASD have contact as victims, witnesses and offenders. This chapter will draw on research with justice professionals to argue that there is an ethical need, and indeed an obligation, for appropriate training to better prepare police to work with clients that have FASD. By illustrating the ways in which many frontline workers misunderstand FASD, coupled with the stigma associated to FASD, this chapter argues that individuals with FASD have unique needs and the stakes in the justice system are simply too high to not have appropriate training in place to meet those needs.

This study is made based on an interview between Professor Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Dr. Md. Abu Sayem about environmental issues. Professor Nasr connected religious / spiritual views of the environment with the present ecological crisis. He advocates a traditional worldview in order to save the natural world.

This paper examines the dynamics of hostile takeovers (HT's) as a form of corporate warfare. There are a number of compelling reasons for believing this to be an accurate approximation to corporate reality and therefore an appropriate analogy. In circumstances where it is all-too easy for either of the protagonists to act unethically (Berle and Means, The modern corporation and private property, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1991), there is an evident need for an appropriate template through which to analyse and evaluate the ethical dilemmas that HT's inevitably raise (Armour and Skeel, Georget Law J 95:1727, 2007)—whilst also, where possible, employing its prescriptions as a means of corporate conflict resolution. This paper evaluates just war theory (JWT) as one such template. In seeking a conceptually adaptable framework for analysing, interpreting and articulating antagonistic behaviour during a HT, it became apparent in the course of the research that JWT provided a potentially useful and viable template within which to pursue the above. The research questions centre not necessarily on whether this template could in some way be a substitute for statutory and regulatory constraints on unethical conduct but, rather, whether it might better inform all stakeholders of the importance of ethically informed restraint in the interest of the greater good.

Download at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3539823

American law clerks often draft opinions for their judges. Yet American legal culture is remarkably diffident about that simple fact. The role that law clerks play in drafting opinions is not a secret. Far from it. But it might qualify to be somewhere in the outer vicinity of being an “open secret.” And it continues to be controversial.

This essay explores a set of questions about opinion-writing by law clerks. The first major question is meta-normative. The goal is not to decide whether the practice of law clerks drafting opinions is proper or improper, but why it is occluded and controversial in the first place. Specifically, why is there so much more diffidence and doubt about the role of law clerks than about the work of aides in the other branches of government such as Presidential speechwriters and Congressional staff?

The second question is hermeneutic. Should the fact that judges might not always draft their own opinions lead us to read and interpret those opinions differently, especially when we draw conclusions about the “jurisprudence” of this or that judge or Justice or the way that legal doctrines often seem to be shaped by longstanding, dialectical, debates among judges or Justices?

The discussion of both questions tries to shed some light on broader constitutional and jurisprudential questions, including the distinctly metonymic relationship between the “President” and the rest of the Executive Branch and the complicated connections between judicial reasoning, the exercise of judicial authority, and the identity of the individual judge.

This essay was written as part of symposium marking the hundredth anniversary of the formal institution of Supreme Court law clerks.

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie zależności między porządkiem prawnym a moralnością na podstawie filozofii prawa Gustava Radbrucha oraz myśli Immanuela Kanta. Zestawienie poglądów tych filozofów podyktowane jest specyfiką poruszanych przez nich problemów, a także podobieństwami przyjmowanego modelu etycznego. Konkluzją artykułu jest wykazanie, że nie można mówić o całkowitym i trwałym rozdziale moralności i prawa na gruncie teorii dyskutowanych myślicieli, gdyż moralność według nich jest głównym sposobem uprawomacniania prawa.

Gatekeepers Inside Out challenges the conventional wisdom that in-house counsel are simply "too captured" by their senior managers in their corporations to serve as effective gatekeepers of our securities markets. The author revises classical gatekeeping theory introduced by Prof. Reinier Kraakman in his seminal article (Gatekeepers: Anatomy of a Third Party Enforcement Strategy, 2 J.L. Econ. & Org. 53 (1986)). In that article, Kraakman clarified that a gatekeeping strategy requires gatekeepers "who can and will prevent misconduct reliably, regardless of the preferences and market alternatives of wrongdoers." Although Kraakman did not make much of the distinction, he recognized that successful gatekeepers must not only be "willing" but also "able" to prevent misconduct. Now, consider also that gatekeepers must not only be prepared to "interdict" misconduct but also to "monitor" to detect such happenings in the first place. By combining these two simple observations, we see that potential gatekeepers can be evaluated by their: (1) willingness to interdict, (2) willingness to monitor, (3) capacity to monitor, and (4) capacity to interdict. Using this new framework of analysis, the author compares inside and outside counsel for the gatekeeping role. Along the way, the author departs from traditional gatekeeping theory's exclusive reliance on rational choice theory and imports empirical findings from social psychology and sociology that illuminate the four conditions of effective gatekeeping. By running inside and outside counsel through this rigorous mill of analysis, the author comes to unexpected conclusions. The analytical framework set forth by the author can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of other traditional gatekeepers, including investment bankers, securities analysts, accountants, and, yes, even credit agencies.

This is a unique opportunity for early career researchers to join The Alan Turing Institute. The Alan Turing Institute (ATI) is the UK’s new national institute for data science, established to bring together world-leading expertise to provide leadership in the emerging field of data science. The Institute has been founded by the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, UCL and Warwick and the EPSRC.

This is a targeted call, by which we intend to recruit researchers in subjects currently underrepresented by our fellowship cohort. Fellowships are available for 3 years with the potential for an additional 2 years of support following interim review. Fellows will pursue research based at the Institute hub in the British Library, London. Fellowships will be awarded to individual candidates and fellows will be employed by a joint venture partner university (Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, UCL or Warwick).

El campo de la ética profesional del abogado es tal vez uno de los menos explorados por la academia jurídica colombiana. Son muy pocos y muy básicos los libros que se han escrito al respecto. El Curso de Ética Profesional tiende a ser relegado a los profesores asistentes o novatos, y los estudiantes no se sienten atraídos por la materia y manifiestan una apatía notable por esta. Además, podría afirmarse que de las altas Cortes el Consejo Superior de la Judicatura es la menos prestigiosa.

¿Por qué ocurre esto? ¿Cómo ha logrado la profesión jurídica evadir la discusión e investigación sobre la ética profesional? ¿Por qué deberíamos hablar de ella? Este escrito busca rescatar del olvido algunas preguntas claves sobre la ética profesional, realizadas por algunos abogados, y explicar cómo el aprendizaje basado en problemas, empleado en la Universidad de los Andes, ha favorecido de alguna forma al ocultamiento o el olvido de ellas.

Lawyers participating in legal malpractice litigation sometimes encounter evidence of serious disciplinary rule violations.  Whether, and how soon, those lawyers are required to report this information to grievance authorities is a question that has received little attention from courts and scholars, despite the fact that most states have mandatory reporting rules.  The dilemma for lawyers serving as testifying experts is particularly troublesome because nonreporting may result not only in discipline, but testimonial impeachment.  The better view is that an expert in a pending case ordinarily has no mandatory obligation to report misconduct.  This conclusion is supported by an analysis of the narrowness of the reporting obligation, the exceptions to the rule, public policy considerations related to malpractice litigation and grievance procedures, and customary professional practices.  However, after litigation ends, an expert (and other lawyers) may have a duty to call evidence of serious misconduct to the attention of disciplinary authorities.

This Report has been prepared for participants in my PhD research who each contributed their time, experiences and wisdom to inform my research. It may also be of interest to scholars of law in the region, although it is intended to be a technical report rather than a scholarly one. It is my abiding hope that my findings and recommendations will also be of use to policy makers and those interested in strengthening governance, the rule of law and the capacity of both public and private sector through strategic reforms directed to strengthening the capacity, skills and professionalism of the Kiribati legal profession.

This Report is divided into three parts. Part 1 considers the environment in which lawyers practise in Kiribati. Part 1 is divided in to 4 sections which consider: the social and historical context of Kiribati; legal education; the environment for legal practice in Kiribati; and the environment for regulation of lawyers. Part 2 provides an overview of the current statutory framework for the admission, qualification and regulation of lawyers in Kiribati. It also presents findings on how lawyer conduct is regulated in practice through these formal statutory systems and through informal (non-official) mechanisms. Part 3 provides detail on key recommendations.

Monografia „Etyka sytuacyjna prawnika” została opublikowana przez  Wydawnictwo Prawnicze LexisNexis w ramach serii Biblioteka Etyki Prawniczej .

"Etyka sytuacyjna prawnika" składa się z dwóch części. Pierwsza części monografii porusza podstawowe zagadnienia etyki prawniczej (m.in. kwestie zasadności jej kodyfikacji). Celem części drugiej jest usytuowanie etyki zawodowej radcy, notariusza czy sędziego na tle etyk zawodowych innych profesji, tj. etyki medycznej i etyki biznesu. Trzecia, najważniejsza część pracy prezentuje ogólna teorie etyki prawniczej, nazwana etyka sytuacyjna prawnika. W monografii przedstawiam koncepcję etyka sytuacyjnej prawnika, czyli takiej etyki zawodowej, która kładzie nacisk na osobista decyzje w sytuacji dylematu etyczno-zawodowego. W przypadku prawnika decyzja ta wiąże się z odniesieniem do uniwersalnych wartości (takich jak sprawiedliwość czy tajemnica zawodowa), przez wzgląd na osobisty kontakt z kimś, kogo prawnik ma sądzić, bronić albo oskarżać. Taka koncepcja etyki zawodowej nawiązuje do dorobku trzech wielkich przedstawicieli etyki fenomenologicznej – Maxa Schelera, Nocolaia Hartmanna i Józefa Tischnera.

For the first time in the American legal profession, non-lawyers can openly, independently, ethically, and legally engage in activities recognized by bar associations as the practice of law. In 2012, the Washington Supreme Court passed Admission and Practice Rule 28 (APR 28), establishing the profession’s first paraprofessional licensing scheme that allows non-lawyers to give legal advice. The process authorizes qualified non-lawyers to provide legal advice without the supervision of a lawyer. Washington’s Supreme Court intends for Limited License Legal Technicians, or “LLLTs” as they are known, to increase access to justice by responding to the unmet civil legal needs of Washington residents, mirroring a broader call in the legal profession for service delivery models that triage the simpler cases from the complex. Doing so, the LLLT model aims to better meet the needs of those who cannot otherwise afford professional legal help.

Will the LLLT model increase access to justice? That depends on how we define “justice”—more specifically, justice for whom? LLLTs have prompted anticipation that the model will do its part to close the gap on the unmet civil legal assistance needs of low- and moderate-income populations, a need perhaps best shown by Washington State’s Civil Legal Needs studies. Yet to fully understand the model and its potential, we must look more closely at who will benefit from it and, critically, who will not.

This Article finds that the LLLT model is not designed to increase access to justice for those from low-income populations. This conclusion is based on first-hand interviews with the architects of the model as well as on original surveys and interviews conducted with the first two cohorts of LLLTs and LLLT Candidates. LLLTs and Candidates expect to keep their pricing schemes high enough to bring in a sustainable revenue stream, intend to work primarily through traditional legal service delivery models at law firms and as solo practitioners, and overall do not report highly salient motivation to target low-income clientele relative to their other motivations for becoming an LLLT. From all of this, we do not have reason to believe that low-income legal consumers will better access justice through the current LLLT model.

This Article first sets forth the context for why and how to weigh whether the model will increase access to justice for low-income populations, and then analyzes why, based on LLLTs’ and Candidates’ responses, we do not have reason to believe that the model will expand access to justice in an appreciable way for low-income consumers. The Article then contemplates the implications of this finding, which Washington and other states may wish to consider as they develop legal paraprofessional licensing schemes like the LLLT model and, ultimately, determine who will gain access to justice through such models.

Virginia Code provides the authority for any person or entity to file Ethics Complaints against lawyers practicing law in Virginia and Virginia Justices and judges.

§ 54.1-3915. Restrictions as to rules and regulations.

Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this article, the Supreme Court shall not promulgate rules or regulations prescribing a code of ethics governing the professional conduct of attorneys which are inconsistent with any statute; nor shall it promulgate any rule or regulation or method of procedure which eliminates the jurisdiction of the courts to deal with the discipline of attorneys. In no case shall an attorney who demands to be tried by a court of competent jurisdiction for the violation of any rule or regulation adopted under this article be tried in any other manner.  Code 1950, § 54-51; 1974, c. 536; 1988, c. 765.

Unveräußerliche Rechte kann man nicht freiwillig aufgeben oder übertragen. Nicht nur Grundrechte können unveräußerlich sein. Unser Rechtssystem schränkt auf unterschiedliche Weisen die Verfügung über gewisse Rechte ein. Weshalb darf aber ein Träger eines solchen Rechts nicht darüber verfügen? Handelt es sich dabei nicht um eine ungerechtfertigte Einschränkung der Vertragsfreiheit oder der möglichen Einwilligung?

Sustainability is a central challenge of the fashion industry. In an era where Internet and social networks allow information to spread quickly, more consumers are familiar with the call for “ethical fashion” as disasters such as Rana Plaza resound worldwide. However, consumers interested in buying “ethical” clothing could have a hard time orienting themselves amongst the abundance of brands claiming to be ethical on the market. Consumers might make purchasing decisions based on their knowledge of a brand. In this context, it is imaginable that corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications, including codes of ethics, could constitute one way a consumer can learn more about a company’s values. These codes may serve a variety of purposes—they are undoubtedly one of the ways a brand communicates its commitment to ethical principles. Indeed, by analyzing the codes of ethics of some of the industry’s well-known brands, it is evident that they primarily focus on employment and work...

Mediation is increasingly regarded as a nascent profession. This raises some important questions about how the mediation profession should be structured and governed. This article distinguishes two models of professional ethics and considers their appropriateness for mediation. The first model, which I call the 'regulatory model', gives a central role to professional associations in formulating, applying and enforcing ethical codes of conduct. This model has been adopted by the legal profession in Australia and elsewhere. The second model, which I call the 'practice model', views a profession as a community of practice where ethical standards emerge and change organically over time. These standards may be codified, but are mainly enforced through social pressure. I develop the practice model through reference to the concepts of practice and tradition in the work of Alasdair MacIntyre. I then explore the implications of the two models by considering how they might respond to ethical breaches by practitioners suffering from mental illness, before considering their suitability for the mediation community. I contend that the practice model has important advantages over the regulatory model as a framework for mediation ethics.

THE TRIAL COURT,  JUDGE LON E. FARRIS  FROM THE 31ST VIRGINIA JUDICIAL CIRCUIT (JUDGE FARRIS OR TRIAL COURT), ERRED WHEN JUDGE FARRIS APPEARED WITHOUT AUTHORITY ON MARCH 8, 2022, PRESIDED OVER PRETRIAL MATTERS, AND ENTERED AN ORDER TO DISMISS DANIEL'S COMPLAINT WITH PREJUDICE.

IV. THE TRIAL COURT, JUDGE LON E. FARRIS, ERRED IN RULING THAT THE CIRCUIT COURT LACKED SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION TO HOLD A JURY TRIAL TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE DEFENDANTS HAD ENGAGED IN MISCONDUCT UNDER THE VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT CITED IN THE UNDERLYING CASE ON APPEAL.

Note that as a barrister, you must know that any recent event or issue can be cropped up as a question in the upcoming bar exams. And you must be prepared for it; more so, you must, somehow, predict it.

As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said in The Path of the Law: "When we study law we are not studying a mystery but a well-known profession. We are studying what we shall want in order to appear before judges, or to advise people in such a way as to keep them out of court. The reason why it is a profession, why people will pay lawyers to argue for them or to advise them, is that in societies like ours the command of the public force is entrusted to the judges in certain cases, and the whole power of the state will be put forth, if necessary, to carry out their judgments and decrees. People want to know under what circumstances and how far they will run the risk of coming against what is so much stronger than themselves, and hence it becomes a business to find out when this danger is to be feared. The object of our study, then, is prediction, the prediction of the incidence of the public force through the instrumentality of the courts."

Tersely put, the study of law is somehow a study of prediction. This might not be the very idea of Justice Holmes in the above-cited paragraph, but as a barrister, you must have the skill of prediction, as it is the very idea of the study of law. That in a set of facts, you must predict its concomitant consequences; how a judge would rule in that given case.

Let us proceed.

As a counsellor it is important to understand and apply a code of ethics that recognises social, legal and ethical issues in the counsellor and client relationship which furnishes professionalism and underwrites effectiveness in the counselling process.

In my case study I reflect on the first episode of a TV series called In Treatment about a Psychologist treating several clients who is observed to be devoid of social and legal and ethical issues that arise.  I address each issue that arises from an ethical and legal perspective.

All things considered, my case study shows this therapist is observed to be less helpful to his clients and instead could be causing them more harm than good as he does not stand by client autonomy which is one of the highest priorities of counselling.  I conclude he is in need of guidance from an ethically professional supervisor to help him implement ethical standards in his practice.

Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология разгледана като теория за конституционните ценности и конституционните принципи, като правна институционализация на ценностния конституционен консенсус и като практическо прилагане на конституционализирания морал.  Конституционната аксиология се представя като отворена и неавтономна система. Тя е отворена към метаюридически нормативни системи и е зависима от техните нормативни концепции и парадигми. Мрежовите отношения между основните конституционни ценности и принципи са отграничени от  йерархичните отношения между тях и секторните конституционни ценности и принципи. Изследвано е също отношението между аксиологията на националното конституционно право и аксиологията на наднационалния конституционализъм.

Статията е публикувана в сборник от конференция, организирана от НБУ с наименование "Законът на правото или правото на закона", С., 2017.

We live in a do-it-yourself (DIY) society. Consumers are comfortable going online to handle business and professional transactions. They shop, conduct banking and investing, earn degrees and communicate with family and friends over the Internet. The public has gotten used to controlling online interactions and many individuals see the benefit and convenience of handling business on their own time.

The DIY consumer also understands that when a product or service has a DIY component, it tends to be more affordable. This is seen as an acceptable tradeoff for doing a little or a lot of the footwork. In the current economy, many lower to moderate income individuals are more than willing to do the extra work to save money on their legal needs.....

There are benefits for the professional as well as the public in unbundling legal services. Unbundling may be seen primarily as a service to be handled pro bono or “low” bono. However, private practitioners may also provide limited scope representation to serve another segment of the population in need of basic legal services while making it cost-effective for their firm. Adding unbundled legal services to a traditional law firm structure can be used to market a law practice to an entirely new client base and give the firm a competitive advantage....

This ebook will refer to these resources while focusing on providing a basic, easy-to-digest introduction to unbundling for private practice lawyers. The ebook will cover ethics concerns and best practices for unbundling and provide practical suggestions for implementation. This ebook will not go into ethics issues involved in an attorney’s participation in court-sponsored legal services programs. Instead, it will focus on solos and small firm’s potential to provide limited scope services. As a side goal, this ebook will hopefully start a renewed dialogue between the private and public sectors of the legal profession about using unbundling as an alternative solution for chipping away at the nation’s access to justice deficiencies.

Yaoi/BL Fandom Survey (only takes 10 mins to complete): https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/blfandomsurvey

http://sainsbury-institute.org/news-events/legislating-manga-workshop/

This talk will explore the implications of the Prohibited Images of Children section of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 for Boys' Love and Yaoi in the UK. The British legislation will be set in context briefly with regard to the legal situation in North America, Australia, Japan and China. Anna is Chair of Qualitative Inquiry in the School of Psychology at the University of Leeds and is author of 'Boys’ Love manga for girls: Paedophilic, satirical, queer readings and English law' in Children, Sexuality and Sexualisation (2015). Her online BL fandom survey can be found at https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/blfandomsurvey

Edgar Smith conducts an attorneys practice and owns a building company. Smith’s building company needed a financial injection to survive, due to financial problems. Joe De Maggio, a client of Smith, consulted him about a R1 million investment. Smith had made various investments on behalf of De Maggio over the years. Smith was aware of the fact that De Maggio was allegedly the kingpin of a criminal syndicate. Smith suggested that De Maggio lend the money to him personally, as an investment in his building company. Liquidation proceedings on Smith’s building company commenced. De Maggio never received the loan money which Smith owed him. Mrs Belinda De Maggio, De Maggio’s wife, approached Smith to institute a divorce action against Mr De Maggio.