Richard A. Wasserstrom's Lawyers as Professionals: Some Moral Issues

Bok analyzes the effects that lying has upon the society and individuals. In chapter XI, which deals most directly with lawyers, she sited the code of professional responsibility in support of this statement, “in the adversary system of justice,” truth is held to be more likely to emerges as a result of the contest between opposing forces is the accused is both defended and prosecuted “zealously with the bounds of the law.” In other words, Bok shows the social practice of truth telling to have great value both generally and personally when dealing with clients, when you are a lawyer.

All training required for judges, public defenders and prosecutors require a law degree and membership in The American Bar Association in which the state they practice law in. The American Bar Association set professional standards for conduct and certification for lawyers starting in the 19th century (Gufaston& McClellon, 2012). A new model code of professional responsibility has mandated conduction of the procedures of trials that must conform to the core requirements of law set with specific standards (Pollock, 2014). For this very reason of non reliability in regards to set training standards of particular types of lawyers and established practice, Burger (1973) contended that how lawyers are trained in and after law school, will ultimately dictate their proficiencies as counsel in our adversary criminal justice system; eventually deciding the virtue and essence of our justice within the system. With hardly any if not non existent live training in the court system, no standard procedure is developed and required strictly for attorneys’ and judges to complete; reassuring individual rights of citizens are upheld to the highest standards during the legal process, proving these law practitioners’ are truly proficient in conducting their vital positions as expected in the Constitutional performance of protecting people’s rights (Burger, 1973). The general public assumes that every graduated law student is accomplished enough, merely through designation from the bar which then qualifies the individual capable to immediately practice and counsel within the court system (Burger,

Within the book, Dershowitz poses the question of whether prosecutors and defense attorneys are advocates for justice, or only for their clients. The reason for lawyers choosing a client can

The fact that lawyers are positioned in an amoral world was one of Wasserstrom arguments. A lawyer's relationship with their clients consists of complex inequalities. Some of the reasons that Wasserstrom indicates that a lawyer exists in an amoral world is explicitly evident in the example of the Watergate cover up. "I think, at least a plausible hypothesis that the predominance of lawyers was not accidental." Wasserstrom goes one to say "the lawyer as professional comes to inhabit a

The ethical obligation of the defense attorney is set forth in what in most states is called the code of responsibilities for and attorney. The defense lawyer is a term more commonly applied to an attorney involved in defending a client in a criminal case with no issue on how guilty they are. Some call them warriors for equity, others use less approving terms. The point when a man is suspected of a wrongdoing, no one can remain alongside that person with the exception of his/her lawyer. Regularly the group and even the family will separate itself from a denounced, paying little mind to blame or guiltlessness. Employments are lost and lives demolished. At the littlest, the expense of protecting oneself will bankrupt most subjects. As the expense

Giving people who don't have a law allow the ability to share firm advantages would undermine the calling's ethical responsibilities of client dependability and security, savants fight. They expect that decision making within firms would be affected by theorists or shareholders who aren't bound by the same standards of conduct as approved lawyers.

Ethical duties of a defense lawyer are also tested when they are providing counsel to juvenile and mentally ill clients. Due to a lack of understanding

Regulatory authorities have often sought to impose professional discipline upon lawyers for engaging in purely private misconduct. The authority to do so stems both from legislative enactments and judicially adopted ethics rules. The underlying rationale is that certain private misbehavior may well demonstrate

Although defense attorneys have their own opinions about their clients, defendants in general “view their lawyers with suspicion” (Neubauer, pg. 189). Most defendants believe that appointed attorneys and private attorneys a bit arrogant considering that they have been “chosen” to provide for the case. As to public defenders, defendants believe that they will not assist them to the best of their ability or work hard enough because they get paid winning or loosing the case. Defendants have very little trust and confidence in their defense attorneys. Attorneys also may face a lot of pressure from personal relationships such as friends and family. Clients having personal relationship involved in the case can built up a conflict between the client and attorney because friends and family may disapprove of the representation. “Personal relationships represent an important source of client referrals—and some people may no longer recommend a lawyer who represented a serial rapist” (Laufenberg, 2005). Putting all of the distrust from both the attorney and client, the attorney has duties that they owe to their clients: zealous representation, abide clients decisions, keeping the client informed of every movement, confidentiality, and avoids conflict of

Attorneys are to represent their clients as members of a legal profession. As long as there has been an attorney-client case, there has been disputes regarding the attorney 's loyalty to their clients. Ethically, the adverse action implicates important professional values which include the obligations of legal professionals to provide services to those that need them, to become fully informed regarding legal matters to ensure competence, and to hold confidential clients ' communication. The attorney should always be truthful as well as trustworthy. According to Banks, “trust is an aspect of professionalism, and the encouragement of trust has become a fundamental characteristic in a professional relationship

When everyone thinks about a lawyer a lot of things come to mind, some think of us as bad some see us as good. Since I want to be a lawyer myself someone might think “Well what is this 15-year-old girl thinking when she says she wants to be a lawyer?”, I can tell you exactly that. Throw a lawyer into the ocean full of sharks, why don't they get eaten? The reason is because sharks don’t eat their own kind.

Proponents of lawyer dissatisfaction discredit the reliability of survey data in several ways. First, proponents look at the procedural and substantive defects inherent to survey testing. Second, proponents highlight related survey data—such as the high levels of lawyer depression, alcoholism, and suicide rates, to name a few—which are complimentary to the view that many lawyers are dissatisfied. Last, proponents and opponents alike, suggest that lawyers may be in denial or untruthful when responding to satisfaction surveys. Therefore, proponents of lawyer dissatisfaction argue that survey data is unreliable in measuring lawyer dissatisfaction.

On the other side if an lawyer thinks that the individual that he or she is protecting is certainly unjust to the fact that it clashes with his or her own personal and moral values that he or she has the right to save that individual as his or her lawyer. There is a thin line between ethics and professional behavior as it relates to management of criminal justice and much of this might vary on the instructions and the individuals who are tangled.

In her journal, The Ethnics of Cause Lawyering: An Empirical Examination of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Cause Lawyers Margareth Etienne, the Associate Dean for graduate and international programs states “Lawyers are strongly advised to be zealous but neutral advocates of their clients’ interests. They also have a duty of loyalty to clients that may prohibit them from representing clients in cases where the attorney feels the pull of professional, personal, or political interests distinct from those of the client.” Lawyers have a tough job, representing someone that they know is guilty and it does call it to question their morals and how far they are willing to push beyond them. If a lawyer feels that their personal

Should attorneys always be submissive to their clients? We often perceive lawyers as some kind of genie that solely pursues the client's will, persuaded by financial interest; “A lawyer owes his or her client a duty of zealous representation and loyalty”. But how about those who serve a Civil right organization, a public interest Organization or any law firm, with an interest far broader than financial gain. They all anticipate victory as the end goal; however, they might prefer taking different routes at times because their collective action and decision determines the faith of the clients, the later career of the attorney, the image of the organization, and even possible future clients. The attorney/client privileges