1 / 11

Ethics and The Legal Profession

Ethics and The Legal Profession. By: Alexa Litt, Adora Mccoy , and Brittany Griffin. Ethical Issue #1- Attorney/Client privilege.

zelig
Download Presentation

Ethics and The Legal Profession

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. Ethics and The Legal Profession By: Alexa Litt, AdoraMccoy, and Brittany Griffin

  2. Ethical Issue #1- Attorney/Client privilege •     ~This refers to the inability of authorities to compel an attorney (through subpoena or threat of contempt) to disclose confidential information regarding his or her client •     ~If the attorney discloses any information about a client that the client doesn't wish to be disclosed can face disbarment. •     ~Attorney- Client Privilege does not include physical evidence, so anything found should be presented to the other side if it's relevant •     ~An attorney may not divulge information about a murder weapons location if the defendant informs them of it; However if the defendant brings the weapon to the attorney, she/he must turn it in or they run the risk of be charged with a felony for hiding or withholding information •      ~The only situations that an attorney can ethically reveal information include: • -Client consent • -disclosure is required by law or court

  3. -when one needs to defend oneself or employees against an accusation of wrongful conduct • -To prevent certain death or substantial bodily harm • -To prevent the client from committing a crime or fraud that is reasonably certain to result in substantial injury to the financial interest or property of another and the lawyer's services have been used to accomplish that end • -To prevent, mitigate, or rectify substantial injury to the financial interest or property of another that is reasonably certain to result or has resulted from the client's commission of a crime or fraud when the lawyer's service have been used

  4. Ethical Issue #2- Attorney/client privilege •     ~An attorney must not let his/her client take the stand if they plan on committing perjury; however if it happens before the lawyer realizes it or without lawyers knowledge, they must not bring it back up, but they can't say anything to the court because that would break attorney- client privilege •     ~An attorney can't disclose information even if a third party is in jail due to something his/her client did and the client tells the attorney •     ~An attorney must argue a good case to defend their client even if the client says "yeah, I did it" and is accused of a horrible crime •         ~Even if they tell you where the body, murder weapon or clothes he/she was wearing are, they can't say anything •     ~If there clients alibi is a crime, but not the crime they're accused of, the lawyer must not tell of the other crime unless it follows the legal justifications for revealing things.

  5. Ethical Issue #3- Responsibility to the client • A lawyer must provide legal assistance to the client without regard for personal preference • A lawyer cannot withdraw from a case just because they no longer want to represent the client. • Lawyer can withdraw in these situations - If legal action is for malicious purposes - If discharged by the client - If mental or physical condition renders effective counsel • Legal ethics mandate that even people who are obviously guilty deserve counsel

  6. Case Study Tucker was scheduled to die Dec. 7 for the 1994 murder of Kmart security guard Maurice TravoneWilliams. Defense Attorney Convicts Client The ruling came after Greensboro attorney David B. Smith confessed that he let his co-counsel miss an appeal filing deadline because he decided Tucker should die. A former assistant U.S. attorney, Smith had a reputation as a tough drug prosecutor. He became a defense lawyer in 1996. “I did what I had to do to rectify the situation I created,” Smith said earlier this month. “I had to put out the truth.” In an affidavit filed with the court, Smith said he began to suffer from depression and insomnia after being assigned to represent Tucker on appeal in 1998. Smith, 52, said in the affidavit that he met with the defendant in prison, didn’t like him and after reading the trial transcript concluded, “Mr. Tucker should be executed for his crimes.” With a deadline approaching for filing an appeal with the state’s highest court, Smith made excuses to avoid working with co-counsel Steven Allen on the case. He said he knew Allen had misunderstood the deadline and didn’t correct him. “I was passively sabotaging Mr. Tucker’s post-conviction recourse in state and federal court,” he said in the affidavit. The case hadn’t been heard by federal courts.

  7. Ethical issue #4- Conflicts of interest • Attorneys should avoid any conflict of interest when defending clients • Attorneys cannot represent two clients with opposing interests (co-defendants) • Goal is to get the best plea bargain for client • Lawyers cannot push every case aggressively because of the damage it can do to the relationship with prosecutors

  8. What would you do? (Part 1) ‪You are a defense attorney hired by Bill Johnson who has been accused of a double rape and murder of two young college students. Bill has no prior run ins with the law aside from a few speeding and parking tickets.  In your first two meetings Bill comes to you and states that he is not guilty and convinced you of his innocence.  In his next visit he comes to after you have already been convinced and says that he is guilty and they same way that he convinced you, you must convince a jury of his innocence.  There was no physical evidence or DNA at the scene however Bill was the last person seen with both girls.  What would you do?‬ ‪What if the two girls were children of two of your friends? Would this change your decision?‬

  9. What would you do? (Part 2) ‪Once again you are a defense attorney and your client Franco Francisco is being accused of a long list of fraudulent charges, Including but not limited to: fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and tax evasion.  Franco is the owner of Franco’s Pizzeria. After 10 years of sub par business, Franco’s Pizzeria purchased a building that well exceed their yearly income for all 10 years combined.  After investigating Franco, who claimed to be an heir of a wealthy relative’s estate, he tells you that he has been laundering money via the selling of illegal drugs.  Franco is your only client and he is your only source of income supporting both you, your spouse and two young children.  What would you do?  ‬

  10. White Collar Crimes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KuKwYFcgo0

  11. Sources • Pollock, Joycelyn M. Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007. Print. • "Model Rules of Professional Conduct: Table of Contents." American Bar Association. N.p., 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2014 • "N.C. Court Stays Execution." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. • ‪http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/legalethics.html • ‪http://www.weil.com/news/pubdetail.aspx?pub=3154 • ‪https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KuKwYFcgo0 • https://www.dailyjournal.com/cle.cfm?show=CLEDisplayArticle&qVersionID=173&eid=340888&evid=1 • http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/PR/3Hardest.htm • http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/20/1172234/-How-Can-You-Defend-Those-People-How-Can-You-Defend-Someone-You-Know-Is-Guilty

More Related