My law student friend starts a course on "ethical lawyering" tomorrow.

[lightningandsnow]

Insert your own joke here.

[Lex]

1. next they'll want priests and politicians and bankers

and journalists and doctors to be ethical too . . .

[david13]

2. Hold on there fellahs. The idea of ethics is not how to be

ethical. It's how to look ethical. And to trap and expose the uninitiated. No joke.
dc

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. That's pretty funny. The concept of an ethical lawyer

not possible, but funny! I've met enough lawyers in my life to know that this, like God, does not exist.

[Lex]

28. Like Pres. Obama or Thurgood Marshall?

Oh wait.

[dysfunctional press]

4. a course? it sounds more like atopic for a weekend seminar...

unless it's an ancient history course?

[elleng]

5. as distinguished from the course on 'unethical lawyering,'

taught by our friends on the Right, over there. >>>>>

[sakabatou]

6. Yoo skipped that course

[rcrush]

7. No you did!

I went to school!

[sakabatou]

8. Of course you did

And Randall the bully took you too it.

[elleng]

9. HOO is on first!

[rcrush]

11. Yoo is!

[elleng]

12. No No No, HOO is on first!

:rofl:

[abq e streeter]

22. barely related tangent, but couldn't resist...

our local minor league baseball team ( AAA Dodgers affiliate) had a shortstop last year named Chin Lung Hu. The last game I went to, he did in fact get a single, so I have personally witnessed a moment when Hu's on first.

[elleng]

25. Kewl!

Abbott: Strange as it may seem, they give ball players nowadays very peculiar names.

Costello: Funny names?

Abbott: Nicknames, nicknames. Now, on the St. Louis team we have Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third--

Costello: That's what I want to find out. I want you to tell me the names of the fellows on the St. Louis team.

Abbott: I'm telling you. Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third--

Costello: You know the fellows' names?

Abbott: Yes.

Costello: Well, then who's playing first?

Abbott: Yes.

etc etc etc

:rofl:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=105&topic_id=9197437&mesg_id=9198153

[proteus_lives]

10. Ethical lawyer?

That's like saying vegan shark.

[raccoon]

13. Everyone poormouths lawyers...until THEY need one. nt

[peekaloo]

14. That's when the real bitching starts.

;-)

[hobbit709]

15. Back in the late 70's

One of my housemates was going to law school.
One day he brought home their weekly law school paper where it listed their top concerns as lawyers.
Number one on their list was their public image.
Number 25 was their ethics.
When I pointed out that if they would be more concerned about their ethics, they wouldn't have to worry about their public image, he got all bent out of shape.

[SoxFan]

16. Lawyers are subject to tougher rules than other professions

Every law student, at every law school in America, has to complete a course of ethics and professional responsibility.

Every lawyer must pass an exam on ethics (the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, or MPRE) before being admitted to practice.

Most states require a certain number of continuing education coursework on ethics each year.

Lawyers are subject to the provisions of the ode of professional responsibility, and can face disbarrment, suspension, or reprimand for violations of the code.

With the possible exception of physicians, lawyers are subject to tighter scrutiny than any other profession.

[Deep13]

20. Those standards are enforced too.

A friend from law school was disbarred about a year ago. A defense lawyer I know was suspended for six months.

[SoxFan]

21. The Mortal Sin is screwing with client funds

It always amazes me how often this happens.

[Deep13]

23. The two examples I cited did just that.

The guy who was disbarred completely actually stole from a chariable trust account he was managing. The guy who was suspended failed to maintain adaquate documentation for his atty. trust account and comingled his money with client funds.

[HopeHoops]

17. Shortest class in history. Take roll, tell everyone they got an "A" and dismiss class for the term.

[lightningandsnow]

26. It is actually only two weeks long.

:rofl:

[Deep13]

18. I'm pretty sure I'm an ethical lawyer.

In response to a previous post, ethics means doing the right thing with "right" being defined by the code of conduct. Part of that is avoid the appearance of impropriety. So looking like one is doing the right thing is part of doing the right thing.

Keep in mind that "ethical" revolves around a lawyer's duty to his client and not to any objective sense of fairness. These rules mostly pertain to protecting a client's interests, maintaining client confidentiality, avoidance of dishonesty (as opposed to discretion), avoiding conflicts of interest, avoiding unnecessary delays in resolving disputes and maintaining a seperate account for client funds. Oh and we have to maintain respect for the courts. Can't forget that. They have nothing to do with finding the objective truth or with finding an objectively just result.

Judges of course have special rules about maintaining nuetrality. And prosecutors have a unique duty to pursue objective truth and substantial justice.

We are regulated by the highest court of our state. In this state that means our governing board is elected by the voters. We are not allowed to avoid personal liability by forming corporations. No other profession has that restriction. Our advertising rules prohibit the kind of puffery and client testimonials that other professions are allowed, to say nothing of the plain dishonesty of most commercial advertising. We may not form parterships with or be supervised by nonlawyers.

[TZ]

24. Nice post

Stereotyping of professions seems to be acceptible here. But what do I know? I'm just a cold hearted money grubbing Big Pharma shill....

[lightningandsnow]

27. Hey, she was the one who was joking about it.

Otherwise I wouldn't have posted it. She's a sweetheart. :)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. i too am sure you are.

[abq e streeter]

19. I know you posted this just for fun, but I 'm glad your friend is taking this course

I hang out with a lot of lawyers ( I'm the underachiever in my group of friends) and I'd say more of them than not are among the most ethical people I know. My favorite example is a good friend who was a judge for almost 20 years. He was hearing a case in which some old woman's home was going to be repossessed or something like that. Her lawyer said "that's not fair" in regards to some ploy by the bank's lawyer, and he replied, "your honor, it may not be fair, but it's legal". My friend glared at him and said : "if it ain't fair, it ain't legal....over-ruled". ( and yes he did say "ain't" from the bench; he's a plain talking guy from a small town on the Rio Pecos). I have other attorney friends that have done pro bono ( for free , in other words, although they generally do like U2---"pro-bono" my lame attempt at humor this afternoon) work through the ACLU etc. Hopefully your friend will become yet another good decent, ethical attorney. ( And yes I'm not naive enough to not be aware there's plenty of slimy ones too; I've met 'em)

[SteppingRazor]

29. I get the joke and all, but ...

I also find it ironic that the professions with the most stringent ethics rules are also the ones most widely derided as being unethical -- law and journalism both spring immediately to mind as prime examples.

And furthermore ... oh, wait. I'm in the Lounge? Never mind. :silly:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. I have a law degree.

It's 90 semester hours of HELL. Much harder than undergrad, at least where I went to school.

You have to take a one hour course in Ethics, and as pointed out above, you have to take an exam in ethics.

There will always be crooked lawyers, but I think the lawyers regulate themselves much better than the doctors do. I think if the state boards reprimanded the bad doctors and suspended them, there would be far fewer malpractice suits. Doctors get mad when you point this out.

[Brother Buzz]

32. My father presented ethics lectures at his old law school

He learned from the best back in his days and was honored to pass it forward. He did not considered the subject a joke.

[gmoney]

33. "lawyering" always sounds wrong to my ear

It's sort of like "bankering" or "drivering" would be wrong, no? Not that "lawing" is a correct term either...