For instance, legal service providers are involved mainly in putting their customers first and respecting the principle of law. Maintaining professional ethics is very much essential as it is the heart of the profession, and it will help in advancing the following;
Trust and Confidence: Preserving the standards of legal professional ethics guarantees confidence, responsibilities, and reputation in legality throughout the public. Clients, as well as the entire society, rest their trust in lawyers, and ethical conduct maintains this credibility.
Integrity and Honesty: The attorneys who stand for most of the cases in courts are required to uphold the strictest degree of ethics for integrity and honesty, being some of the indispensable professional ethics in the legal profession. This guarantees that clients get legitimate and accurate directions and that lawyers conduct themselves in a way that is practical with their obligation to professionalism.
Protection of Client Confidentiality: Unswerving adherence to the legal ethics of the profession ensures that lawyers observe client privacy. This basic principle promotes open interaction between the client and their advocate, therefore ensuring the client is able to furnish the needed information without the fear of it leaking.
Impartiality and Fairness: There are professional ethics that demand lawyers act neutrally and justly towards their clients. It ensures that lawyers do not have any legal interest as may arise. They advocate for their clients, and they ensure all people are treated equally and just and are not prejudiced.
Preserving the rule that stands side by side with the freedom of accessing justice An independent legal profession, the United Nations Preamble says, is an inherent aspect of the observance of the rule of law. On the other hand, the appropriate guarding of human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed to all human beings, whether economic, social and cultural, or civil and political aspects, calls for the fact that all people will be poised to access the legal services that are under the hand of an independent legal profession.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST STRICT ADHERENCE TO PROFESSIONAL ETHICS.
Limited Flexibility: Steep professional ethics may restrict lawyers in chasing interest and clients or in advocating the causes they seem to believe in. The rules of ethics seem stubborn, and practices need to be revised to enable lawyers to perform the procedures that might prove helpful through innovation or encourage winning a persuasive yet questionable viewpoint.
Stifling Advocacy: Professional ethics are necessary for any lawyer to follow prescriptions that adhere to professional ethics very strictly, which may as well molest the ability to fully and zealously represent the case of the client. Advocacy entails being aggressive or provocative, which may be limited by ethics on civility and respect.
Hindrance to Accessible Legal Services: The tight ethical regulation acts as a hurdle in the entry of new companies or less established lawyers into the market, hence making legal services inaccessible to those who cannot afford the services of competent lawyers.… This nullifies the objective of ensuring justice for all.
Cultural and Contextual Differences: As cultural and societal views tend to vary in different jurisdictions, ethical rules are always shaped accordingly. Such strict follow-up of the rules may need to pay more attention to the cultural views or circumstances, which also possess a legal context.
HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO.
Dishonesty in court like spe, specifically falsification of documents, for example, a medical report. This may defeat the client’s position, hence leaving a compromise. If the advocate was the one who chose to follow that road, then they would have relinquished their duty of striking a balance between interests, honesty, and integrity. The advocate, therefore, advisably should tell the client why one should not commit perjury in relation to its legal ramifications and moral implications. On persistence by the client, the lawyer would be forced to pull out of the case in order to sustain professional ethics. This case illustrates precariously amicability in advocating for a client and defense of due process of the law.
RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.
Legal professional ethics cannot be reduced to mere escape from disciplinary actions, and thus, it assumes an important role in promoting the greater good of society. The ethical practice in the legal field is one of the central points that support the principles of democracy by ensuring the rule of law is upheld, a fundamental brick in a successful coherence democratic setup. Additionally, it directly affects human rights in that it promotes personal autonomy and ensures that every person enjoys justice irrespective of their social rank. As for the aspect of social justice, ethical and legal practices seek to reduce gaps in society, allowing for the representation of the disempowered and guarding a healthy balance of different people.s interests and, therefore, help create a more just society. They form the pillars upon which trust in the law and, by proxy, trust in the societal order rests.
REFERENCE.
“Booklet on Ethics for Lawyers” (thehorizoninstitute.org) <https://www.thehorizoninstitute.org/usr/library/documents/main/booklet-on-ethics-for-lawyers.pdf> accessed February 3, 2024
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