Legal Profession and Legal Ethics Summative Assessment

The legal profession has been historically linked with a moral and ethical behaviour on the part of its participants, and as such it is bound to necessitate careful scrutiny, in the same manner that the medical profession does. Solicitors are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland, and advocates by the Faculty of Advocates. Both bodies deal with a variety of matters, from establishing qualifications for admission to the profession to rules of professional conduct and disciplinary actions. They impose certain standards of service and behaviour on legal professionals.

Even though the legal profession is self-regulating, the Law Society exists only as a creature of statute. S.34 of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 confers upon it powers to create Practice Rules through its Council. Any decisions of this type must, however, be approved by the Lord President in the Court of Session, in order to guarantee an increased protection for the public.

Not only does the Law Society set standards for service; it also takes complaints from the public regarding solicitors and addresses them as it sees fit. Grievances may be lodged with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, who will decide whether or not to investigate them. Once an initial investigation is carried out, the Scottish Solicitor Discipline Tribunal handles the issues and comes to a decision. This means that the legal professional is indeed self-regulatory and sufficiently independent. It holds (outside the courts) absolute powers to decide whether or not to investigate a matter. In the event of findings of misconduct, disciplinary measures which may be enforced vary. They can range from imposing fines (most commonly) to striking off a solicitor from the profession.

In cou...

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... client’s admission of tampering with the equipment and replacing it? He did say that he is innocent and the equipment was never faulty to begin with, but I would know that it was replaced. As a solicitor, I owe duties to the court, not only to the person I am representing. I cannot allow my client to commit perjury, so I would need to make sure that he tells the truth regarding the replacement of the equipment, because I must not knowingly give false or misleading information to the court.

To summarize, the three main ethical issues that arise in this problem are those of duty of confidentiality towards my client, conflict of interests and duties owed to the court. Even though at a first glance they might seem to be raising some difficulties, each of these matters can be resolved through tact, good communication and a diligent behaviour.

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