Law, Lawyers and Society – Reflective Journal

 


Part A: Initial thoughts

 


1)  What do you think are the legal and ethical dilemmas that may confront lawyers in legal practice?


 


When I think about the ethics of the legal profession, my first instinct is to think of lawyers as somehow slimy; after all, they sometimes try to help criminals escape justice, promote the interests of large corporations against ordinary people, make divorces into brutal child-custody battles, and so on.


 


A lot of the situations that come up in the practice of law would seem to pose ethical problems for the lawyer. In many cases, what the lawyer’s client wants is something that an ordinary person would think he or she shouldn’t get; but the lawyer always seems to find some way to take the client’s side, even when the client is in the wrong.


 


The most obvious case of an ethical dilemma for a lawyer is in criminal defence. Most of the time, the accused is in fact guilty of committing a crime; and it’s pretty obvious that criminal defence lawyers know this, even if they don’t ask their client if s/he is guilty. How is a lawyer supposed to defend a client that s/he knows is guilty? How is defending someone you know is a criminal different from lying?


 


Certain kinds of corporate legal practice might pose similar problems; for example, lawyers are involved in defending firms that are accused – often correctly – of polluting the environment, violating labour laws, and so on. If a lawyer is helping a company harm society, isn’t the lawyer doing something evil?


 


Family law can present different ethical problems. Divorces often become very acrimonious, and it often seems that lawyers are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. In divorce cases, should the lawyer try to help his/her client “win” – even when s/he knows that the result of this kind of contest will be that both parties wind up miserable at the end of the process? Or should lawyers try to make the divorce process less confrontational, even if their clients are angry at their soon-to-be exes and want to hurt them?


 


 


 


2)  What might be possible ways in which lawyers may resolve these dilemmas?


 


Some of these dilemmas seem solvable, and some not. Criminal defence lawyers don’t have the option of working only for innocent clients; at best, any lawyer who tried to take this approach would have a very hard time making a living. The best a criminal defence lawyer can do, I suppose, is to play by the rules: give the client good representation, and let judges and juries worry about who is guilty and who is innocent.


 


On the other hand, lawyers involved in divorce and child custody cases do have some real influence on their clients, and can try to guide them towards mutually acceptable compromises instead of all-out confrontation. This may mean that lawyers have to tell their clients things that they don’t want to hear – for example, that some of their demands are unreasonable. It may also mean that the lawyers make less money, since going to court creates high fees. Similarly, corporate lawyers can attempt to influence corporate policy in positive ways rather than simply defend whatever the corporation does in its attempt to maximise profits.


 


One approach to dilemmas like these is to avoid them by avoiding the kinds of legal practice where they come up. This is not a “real” solution, but it seems to be a very common one: lawyers who don’t want to be in the position of defending criminals simply don’t practice criminal law, and in general lawyers who are not comfortable with the ethical problems involved in many kinds of litigation have the option of practising in less confrontational areas of the field.


 


 


 


3)  What skills, values, law and other knowledge might be required to achieve their resolution?


 


A lawyer practising in any field of law needs to know the rules that apply: what are the lawyer’s obligations to the client, what is and is not legitimate to do in pursuing the client’s interests, and so on. Criminal defence lawyers need to be especially aware of the relevant rules – particularly since they know that their clients are mostly guilty, and are likely to lie in order to try to avoid punishment.


 


Lawyers who practice in commercial or family litigation need to be more than just good legal technicians; they need to be able to negotiate with the other side’s lawyers, recognize when a good settlement is available, and persuade their client to accept the deal.


 


 


4) What do you expect to gain from this course? What are your expectations for this course?


 


My current knowledge of the values and skills required of a legal professional are very limited; therefore, I hope to learn more about the values and rules that lawyers need to apply to their professional practice. I would also like to learn more about the roles that lawyers play (and about the roles that they ought to play) in society and in the justice system.



Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com


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