1 / 16

Ethical Decision-Making in Legal Practice

Explore a teaching exercise on anti-money laundering, ethics, and professional judgment featuring real-life scenarios and discussion questions. Learn about the consequences of unethical behavior and the importance of moral identity in the legal profession.

gordonr
Download Presentation

Ethical Decision-Making in Legal Practice

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL JUDGMENT: A TEACHING EXERCISE Nigel Duncan City Law School, London (UK) Clark Cunningham Georgia State University College of Law Atlanta, Georgia (USA)

  2. Teaching Exercise Developed By • Clark Cunningham • Emma Oettinger, Anti-Money Laundering Policy Officer, Law Society of England & Wales • Nigel Duncan • Produced with the assistance of the international law firm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

  3. The Videos • Roles: • Nigel Grayson, Solicitor, partner in a small firm in Durham, played by Nigel Duncan • Emma Patrick, Client – Estate Agent in Durham, played by Emma Oettinger • When: Friday, October 28 at 2:30pm • Where: Solicitor’s office in Durham, England • Part 1 (2:41 minutes) • Part 2 (3:50 minutes) • Part 3 (5:14 minutes)

  4. Part 1 (2:41 minutes)

  5. Part 1 Discussion Questions • In your jurisdiction, should the lawyer do further investigation before completing the sale? • If so, what should he investigate? • In your jurisdiction, if the lawyer completes the sale without further investigation, does he risk • Civil liability ? • Criminal prosecution ? • Loss of license to practice law ?

  6. Part 2 (3:50 minutes)

  7. Part 2 Discussion Questions • In your jurisdiction, if the lawyer now completes the sale does he risk • Civil liability ? • Criminal prosecution ? • Loss of license to practice law ?

  8. “Solicitor Found Guilty” • On 26th July 2004 Donna and Peter Davis from Yardley, Birmingham, were convicted of conspiring to supply Class A and B drugs and sentenced to 7 & 12 yrs • A property owned by them had been sold following their conviction for less than a third of the market value. • The property was purchased by Leslie John Pattison an estate agent • Pattison paid £43,000 for the property (the outstanding mortgage on the property) which had been purchased two years earlier for £83,000. • The conveyance of the property was handled by Phillip Jon Griffiths, a solicitor practicing in Shrewsbury.

  9. “Solicitor Found Guilty” • All four were charged with money laundering • Griffiths in addition was charged with failing, as a member of the regulated sector, to make a disclosure, suspecting money laundering offences were taking place. • Pattison was found guilty of acquiring criminal property and sentenced to 3 years • Griffiths was cleared of money laundering • He was convicted of failing to disclose a suspicious transaction and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment

  10. At Sentencing the Judge Said: • “You were unable to say no to Mr. Pattison, with whom you had a close relationship” • “You took a chance and you were discovered” • “Because of your connection with Pattison, you closed your eyes … • to the clearest of evidence.”

  11. On Appeal Regina v. Philip Griffiths • Royal Courts of Justice • Court of Appeal Criminal Division • Decided 6 September 2006 • Citation: [2006] EWCA Crim 2155 • Griffith’s sentence was reduced to 6 months • He also lost his license to practice law

  12. Part 3 (5:14 minutes)

  13. Four Component Model of Morality (FCM) (Rest, 1983) Muriel Bebeau, The Four Component Model of Morality (ABA Associate Deans’ Conference 2010) Motivation & Identity Unprofessional Conduct

  14. Four Component Model of Morality (FCM) (Rest, 1983) Muriel Bebeau, The Four Component Model of Morality (ABA Associate Deans’ Conference 2010) Motivation & Identity Effective Professional Conduct

  15. Free Use of These Materials • You can download all three videos, the script, and this power point at • www.teachinglegalethics.org/content/AML-Ethics • Free to copy, distribute, re-post on the web, and modify • Rewrite script for your jurisdiction • Re-record with new actors, in your language • As long as you provide attribution and do not use for a commercial purpose

  16. Additional Resources • www.anti-moneylaundering.org (IBA website) • UK law: Anti-Money Laundering Practice Note, Law Society of England and Wales (29 Oct 2009 132 pages) • Can find and download using the IBA’s Anti-Money Laundering website

More Related