ABSTRACT
This book presents a new model of legal ethics, one with moral principles. The purpose of legal ethics is to guide lawyers’ conduct in the daily practice of law and in their relationship with clients. There are two limbs in legal ethics. The first, theoretical legal ethics (TLE), provides principles and values. The present model of TLE is based upon a positivist philosophy and it specifies a narrow role for lawyers: to interpret the law without recourse to ethical issues. The second limb refers to lawyers’ professional obligations along with conduct rules, in the common law and statute. Both limbs of legal ethics are closely connected.
Problems with positivist TLE undermine lawyers’ professionalism and their ability to meet society’s ethical and legal expectations in the 21st century. The role of legal ethics is to safeguard lawyers’ professional integrity, upon which clients and community trust are based, yet positivist TLE is detrimental to this role. This is a serious problem for the legal profession. This book provides a new model of TLE informed by moral principles which complement and enhance lawyers’ professional obligations.
