SEC. 3. Ignorance of Legal Ethics Common Among Lawyers. SEC. 4. Movement to Elevate Ethical Standards. Adoption of Canons of Ethics. Study of Ethics Advised. SEC. 5. How the Lawyer Differs Socially from the Layman. Duty to Uphold Dignity of the Profession. Personal Conduct. Not to Disparage Other Lawyers. Not to Joke About Rascality of Lawyers. Duty of Loyalty to the Courts. Duty not to Acquire Interest in Litigation. SEC. 6. Summary of Chapter. § 1. ASSUMPTION OF NEW DUTIES. In entering upon the profession of law one acquires not only new powers as an individual and a new standing in society, but with the additional powers and the newly acquired station in life come also new duties and increased responsibilities. The layman has changed to the lawyer. Whether he will prove himself an honor to his new station in life depends upon whether he conducts himself as an honorable man should who duly appreciates the responsibilities upon which he has entered. § 2. HAZY IDEAS OF LEGAL ETHICS. Too often it occurs that the newly admitted lawyer enters upon his profession with hazy ideas of the ethics of the profession and without due appreciation of the responsibilities to the public that go with the practice of law. That this condition is due partly to the indifference of teachers of law, or of the law schools in not providing positive instruction in legal ethics, cannot be denied. The prospective lawyer is generally so intent upon the mastery of legal principles that he very naturally fails to pause and take thought, of his own volition, of what may be expected of him by the public when he becomes a lawyer. He is aware, of course, of the verdict of the thoughtless multitude that all lawyers are rascals. He does not investigate whether this has a basis in fact, but, if he has the element of true manhood about him, he approaches the day of admission to the bar with a strong feeling that, whether other lawyers are honest or not, he at least will stand out from the multitude as a lawyer scrupulously devoted to the ethical and moral side of the profession. But his difficulty is that when he enters the profession he has no definite conception, other than his instinctive knowledge of right and wrong, of what the ethics and morals of the profession may be. He may do an act innocently, or at least with negligent thoughtlessness of its character, that may offend the ethical standards of the best lawyers. The thing is unprofessional, and the stigma resting upon him is as blackening in the minds of those whose fellowship he supremely desires as if he had done it in deliberate contempt of the ethics of the profession. Hence arises a cloud on his reputation that may require years of irreproachable conduct to efface. § 3. IGNORANCE OF LEGAL ETHICS COMMON AMONG LAWYERS. This lack of knowledge of legal ethics is by no means peculiar to the younger lawyers, but is found among the older practitioners as well. Without definite instruction, each lawyer gradually evolves a code of his own. If his perception of what is right and what is wrong is particularly acute, and he desires to choose the right, he acquires after a few years of practice a high standard of ethics. His law office is permeated with his own high ideals. |