conduct unbecoming

When no one is watching

7 Jun 2011

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I’ve always had a great deal of respect for the medical profession.

Unlike lawyers, accountants, Realtors, or even the clergy, the decisions they make affect life and limb. For doctors, ethical conduct isn’t just a means of maintaining the public trust; it’s an essential to their mandate of saving lives.

My doctor has this sign posted on her door:

 

 

To me, it demonstrates the importance of a values-based ethics system, over a rule-based ethics system.

In the end, we might be accountable to our clients and the profession. But if your values lead you to act ethically only when you are being watched, are you really an ethical professional?

By: Franco Tarulli Category: Conduct, Judges, Judicial conduct, Lawyers Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Abraham Lincoln’s Notes for a Law Lecture

13 Feb 2011

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I had never read Abraham Lincoln’s Notes for a Law Lecture before John Steele‘s post at Legal Ethics Forum.

Having now read them, the advice is every bit as relevant today, as it was when he wrote them. I thought that on his birthday, they might make a worthwhile read for those of us who love the law, and who constantly strive to improve the justice system, and the legal profession as a whole.

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By: Franco Tarulli Category: Conduct, Lawyers, Legal fees Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Making Faces

29 Nov 2010

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One of the things a person learns in the practice of law, is that the human capacity for the bizarre is boundless.

This is a phenomenon richly demonstrated in the tale of Paul McCulloch Alexander.

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By: Franco Tarulli Category: Advocacy, Conduct, Courts, Lawyers Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nice guy; unethical act

12 Aug 2010

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Jack Marshall at Ethics Alarms might think he’s in the minority with his opinion on Daniel Szostkiewicz, the Massachusetts lawyer who hired a former client as his receptionist and paid her “under the table”.

I, for one, agree with him.

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By: Franco Tarulli Category: Conduct Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Acting against former clients – the view from an appellate court

6 Aug 2008

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The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal’s decision in Brookville Carriers Flatbed GP Inc. v. Blackjack Transport Ltd., 2008 NSSC 22, is an instructive look into when a matter for which a law firm is retained is sufficiently related to a previous matter that the firm will not be permitted to carry on the representation against its former client.

The background facts are fairly simple.

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By: Franco Tarulli Category: Advocacy, Conduct, Governance Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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