A Plea For Ethics

An article in California Legal Ethics is a plea for ethics in the legal professions.

Unfortunately there is a huge financial incentive for lawyers, especially in family practice, to not only violate their own professional rules but the law. This combined with the almost insignificant chance they will be held accountable has created a system where crime by lawyers has become endemic. 

Family law has always been difficult. Trends in society, the ongoing destruction of personal norms of appropriate behavior, the erosion of social trust, and the increased competition between lawyers for clients have made it more difficult. The lawyer-as-hired-gun meme still has currency, and it is often emphasized by lawyers themselves in their advertising, based on the idea that clients want aggressive lawyers. Many of my clients who are family law lawyers tell me that family law practice is uglier now than they ever seen it.

No, all is not fair in love, war or the practice of law. They all have ethical rules that must be followed if we are to live in a world not governed by brute force.

Only we can choose what kind of society we live in.