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This information is not intended to create or provide a lawyer-client
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How Do You Deal with a Situation When
Your Personal
Values Clash with
the Legitimate Business of an Organization?
By Stuart
Gilman, Ph.D., and Jeff Salters
of the Ethics Resource Center.
The nice thing about this question is that it is as old as
antiquity. The problem with the question is that it is not easily addressed
or resolved. Conflicts often arise between ethical obligations in the roles
we play (job, friend) and our personal values. The question is how to best
resolve these questions within an ethics framework that makes sense. In order
to understand what this framework can look like, let’s focus on different
types of ethical issues . . .
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Submit an article for publication on this site.
Our guidelines for article submission are here.
Bucklin is the managing editor of
the ethics section of eDicta, the on line resource published by the
Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice (TIPS) Section of the American Bar Association. By
arrangement with the TIPS Section, some articles published there are later
published at this site to allow the articles being publicly available during a longer
time frame.
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Civility is a model for
success! Both as an attorney and as an expert witness on legal
malpractice, I have seen enough of bad-guy vs. good-guy in depositions and
trials to know that civility pays off in witness, juror, and
judge reactions. Whether you are male or female,
being the "civil" civil lawyer wins settlements and judgments. So as the saying goes: " Illegitimi Non
Carborundum" (Don't Let the Bastards Wear You Down) and you will be rewarded
when "Obesa cantavit" (The Fat Lady has Sung).
The following two articles are by "top
gun" powerful trial attorneys with similar advice based on their own experience.
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 BEING
NICE IS POWERFUL
By Elizabeth A. Starrs, a top trial layer in the West.
When I was a relatively new lawyer, I began representing
professionals in malpractice cases. When I attended depositions, I was often
faced with the uncontrolled advocacy of other lawyers who were not only older
and bigger than I, but condescending toward me. I did not have the same physical
presence nor the same natural aptitude for one-upmanship. These tactics were
unsettling to me. How in the world would I ever survive? I imagine there are
more lawyers out there who are in similar situations and wondering why you ever
wanted to be a lawyer in the first place when you’re not naturally aggressive
and abrasive and you really don’t want to fight with opposing counsel all the
time. Can a lawyer be nice and still be an effective advocate? Can you cooperate
. . .? The answer to both of these questions is . . .
Read the Article as
it appeared originally in an ABA ethics site.
 WHY
CHOOSE THE ROAD TO CIVILITY?
By John Tarantino, a top trial lawyer in the East.
Yes, I’ve heard the saying, "Nice guys finish last." However, based on my
experience, nice guys (and nice women) most often finish first in convincing
juries. (And they usually sleep better at night, too.)
Then and Now. I started work at nine years old, shining shoes. Today, more
than 40 years later, I practice law. My current job pays much better than my
first one, and I have many more benefits in my present situation. There are
definite differences in the two jobs, but they also have some similarities. They
both require hard work, long hours, dedication to detail and the ability to
communicate well with people. Once upon a time, as I shined shoes, I learned
that my personality – as well as the quality of my work – could go a long way in
determining my tip. Today, I have learned from years of trying cases that my
personality – as well as my legal acumen – can go a long way in determining
whether a jury accepts or rejects . . .
Read the Article as
it appeared originally in an ABA ethics site. |
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Ben Cowgill's legal ethics site
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Ben Cowgill's legal ethics site contains some of the
best thought available on down-to-earth problems of the small firm legal
practitioner. Ben Cowgill on Legal Ethics is intended to be like a
professional journal, with content relating solely to current developments
in legal ethics, attorney discipline and the law of lawyering.
However, Ben is one person, and posts to the site are infrequent. It
is worth looking at though. That is why we post here what is available
today at his Ben Cowgill on Legal Ethics.
ABA approves Corporate Counsel consulting their personal ethics.
That title may be an overstatement, but it focuses your attention where
it should be —what do you do if your personal ethics revolts against what your
client is doing? There are lots of options, but this article talks about one of
them. . . . .
More Ethics Articles from Our Archives.
Organ Procurement Organizations Should Not
Reject a Deceased's Organ Donation because the Family Objects.
Ethical Consideration and Malpractice
Prevention in Handling Insurance Claims
Conflict of Interest by Attorneys Appearing
To Switch Sides from One Client to Another.
Attorney Client Relationships may Arise from
Implications, even when the Attorney has Not Agreed to be an Attorney for the
Person
Getting the Opinion In (or Out) [The Daubert-Joiner-Kumho Tests]. Expert Testimony Rules of Evidence for Court Witnesses: Seminars and Education Daubert Kumho Federal Rules
Bad Faith Claims against the insurer, arising out of suits against the
insured - a handbook for both plaintiffs and defendant insurers.
Ins. Bad Faith The court shall order witnesses excluded so that they cannot hear the
testimony of other witnesses, and it may make the order on its own motion.
Sequestration
The Evidence Required to Prove the Validity of Legal Assistant Fees as a
Compensable Component of Attorney Fee Awards
Reasonable Fees An aid to those interested in the law of presenting an expert's
opinion under the Federal Rule of Evidence 703 and the similar state
evidence rules. Rule 703 Basis- Expert Opinion
Juror Perception of Expert Witnesses |
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Defending the Company Plus Its
Employee:
Guidelines for a Shared Counsel.
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The ABA Corporate Responsibility Task Force Report recommends permitting
lawyers more often to reveal confidences of corporate clients to persons
outside of the organization.. The reasoning and research point the way for
a lawyer to go to prosecutors with corporate information when greed runs
rampant. |
When a corporation is sued for the acts of an employee, the
corporation or its insurer often ask the defense counsel to defend both the
corporation and the employee. It certainly is more cost efficient for the
corporation or insurer to only have one attorney handle the matter as joint
defense. Frequently the employer wants to control the defense of the employee,
so that a unified and powerful defense is raised to the claim. From sad
experience, the company may have learned that the employee with a separate
attorney often has a less then desirable defense, harming the company’s
defense by stupid disclosures or maneuvers. Frequently the employee’s desire
for joint defense arises because the employee has no insurance; naturally, the
employee thinks it wonderful that the company-paid attorney is also "his"
attorney. Furthermore, as we all know, the employee usually wrongly assumes
you as the company attorney are also "his" attorney for the defense of any
corporate activity. That is why you always start out your conference with the
employee by telling him/her that you are not their attorney and they should
not tell you anything they want to keep confidential. (Right? That is
what you do, isn’t it?)
It is technically possible (and in most cases, ethically
possible if sufficient precautions are taken and consents signed) to have one
attorney represent both the corporation and the employees. Specific
guidelines clearly and comprehensively analyzing what the attorney should do
in joint representation situations have been scarce. . . .Read the Full Article
in PDF format
About the Author of this Article
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The Legal Ethics Forum is a law blog that now offers these items for your
reading.
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Not in Our Archives, but ....
THE ROLE OF THE
EXPERT IN MALPRACTICE LITIGATION by Dwyer & Collora, LLP, a litigation firm located in downtown Boston, is an overview
of why experts are needed in legal malpractice work in Massachusetts. Much
of it may be applied elsewhere.
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External Links |
The Open Compliance & Ethics
Group
OCEG provides guidelines, standards, benchmarks, tools and
online resources/ OCEG has a straightforward, ambitious and timely
mission: to help organizations align their governance, compliance and
risk management activities to drive business performance and promote
integrity |
The Caux Roundtable
The CRT is an international network of principled business
leaders working to promote a moral capitalism. The CRT advocates
Principles for Business through which
principled capitalism can flourish. |
Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College (CBE) Online Library
Business Ethics Online Library
Ethical
Corporation
Ethical Corporation is an independent publisher and events producer on
business ethics and corporate responsibility. |
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