Legal Professionalism: When the Rules Aren’t Enough

The tension between the business of law and the profession of law has never been more perilous; the ancient trap of politics warping values and judgment for lawyers and judges has never gaped wider. Gallup’s annual survey of the public’s trust in institutions and occupations shows lawyers tied in the “Net Negative” category with newspaper reporters, with only 17% of the public regarding attorneys as honest and trustworthy. What defines a traditional profession is a public servant who is trusted. Losing public trust in the legal profession is a looming disaster for a democratic society.

This program explores critical practice challenges that the Rules of Professional Conduct do not adequately address in some cases. The remedy is an understanding and mastery of professionalism, lawyers devoting themselves to core values and objectives, and seeking exemplary ethics rather than merely compliance with ethics rules that even the American Bar Association admits don’t provide sufficient guidance in many situations a lawyer may face.

“Professionalism: When the Rules Aren’t Enough” will engage, challenge, and enlighten practitioners at all levels desiring to sharpen their legal ethics skills so they can bolster both the justice system and the legal profession for the benefit of the public.

This is a multidisciplinary, hypothetical-based program that will give participants new tools, explore up-to-date developments in legal ethics, and hone ethics alarms so they ring before a client has been harmed rather than when it is too late.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the limits of mere formal compliance with the ethics rules
• Identify where and when the Professional Rules of Conduct seem to cover or address situations or cases inadequately
• Understand how ethical rules should be used and why they must be regularly reconsidered
• Recognize and anticipate ethics issues in legal practice at the earliest possible time
• Develop tools and techniques to address common legal ethics dilemmas by considering and discussing challenging hypothetical situations based on actual cases
• Review recent news stories, ethics cases, and opinions, and how they have influenced the legal sphere