Finally, a divorce attorney may be aware that it is in the client's interest to be more legally aggressive, to gain a better settlement, even if the client's temporary, overwrought emotional state runs against this tendency.
The utter prohibition against active solicitation of clients would also bar much of public interest advocacy, such as lawyers who actively seek clients to challenge laws that they believe are against the public good, like anti-abortion legislation. Public advocacy work, which might be waged in name on behalf of a client who is not the most egregiously harmed person by the legislation in actual fact would further go against the grain of Canon 14: "lawsuits with clients should be resorted to only to prevent injustice, imposition or fraud." (Johnson, 1993) Although seeing consumers defrauded by misleading advertising may not actually be an injustice, to wage such legislation may still be in the public good.
The unstructured nature of the Canons does not "lend themselves to practical sanctions for violations; and... changing conditions in our legal system and urbanized society require new statements of professional principles." (Johnson, 1993) Although some of the statements, such as Canon 6, that a lawyer should represent his or her client in a competent fashion, or the prohibition against revealing the client's secrets, are commendable and are a part of current ethical standards of the American Bar Association today, this language's vague generality needs to be more clearly defined, so that there are comprehensible definitions of what competence entails, or even when a client is in fact a client -- what types of communications are privileged and cannot be recorded by the state? There must also be defined sanctions against lawyers who act incompetently, else how can lawyers truly understand what constitutes a definition of competence?
As originally drafted, the Canons were not intended to regulate the legal profession's conduct according to set standards. Thus, even apparently innocent canons such as the statement of Canon 12: "In fixing fees, lawyers should avoid charges which overestimate...
Constitutional, Legal and Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Police abuse remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States. The excessive use of force by police officers, including unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and rough treatment, persists because overwhelming barriers to accountability make it possible for officers who commit human rights violations to escape due punishment and often to repeat their offenses. Police or
Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility of Paralegals: Canons The term "canon" is used to refer to rules, standards of conduct, and general maxims that are accepted as fundamentally binding in a particular field or group. There would be no need for laws if all people were innately honest and just. This is not the case, as a significant number of individuals in our society are motivated by selfish desires and
But he didn't tell me that my aunt would help them do it'" (Gaines, 79). Grant believes at this point that dignity is something he can only find -- and is supposed to find -- outside of his community and away from the relationships and ties that he has there, including his maternal bond to his aunt. As the novel progresses, however, Grant begins to realize how necessary the community
Guantanamo Bay and the United States History of Guantanamo Bay, and the U.S. Involvement with Guantanamo Bay The Legality of the U.S. Occupation of Guantanamo Bay Why Do the U.S. Hold Guantanamo Bay? The Legal Position Regarding the U.S. Being in Guantanamo Bay Recent Events at Guantanamo Bay: Camp X-Ray and Camp Delta The Legal Position Regarding Events at U.S. Camps in Guantanamo Bay The Geneva Convention and Guantanamo Bay In the last two years the U.S. naval
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