DICTAcareers
How to have an
Ethical Legal Career
Lawyers are not often exalted for their ethics. TIMOTHY
MANLEY explores how you can achieve an ethical career.
H
ow does a lawyer sleep at night? First, he
lies on one side, and then on the other.
Maybe you are like most of the law students I have met at ‘networking’ events whose
sole goal in life is to land that dream job in a
Magic Circle firm and retire at 45. On the other
hand, you may be seeking a law degree to work
pro bono, to fight injustice, to uphold human
rights, to defend the children of the poor, and
to punish the wrong doer. Maybe, like me, you
want it all: a (financially) rewarding career in return for all your hard work, but also the ability
to sleep at night.
If the preponderance of jokes is anything
to go by, lawyers do not have a great reputation
for ethics and decency. Large commercial firms
are perceived to be as unethical as the banks
and multinationals they represent, using their
‘commercial awareness’ to maximise profit at
the expense of everyone else. Obtaining ‘super-injunctions’ to cover celebrity philandering,
mortgage re-possessions, and debt collection
are not exactly a paradigm of an ethical career.
Likewise, the ‘cab-rank’ rule at the bar, which
obliges barristers to accept instructions from
anyone, reinforces the idea that amoral lawyers
will say anything so long as the price is right,
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with no care for the guilt or innocence, morality
or immorality of their client.
But how can you join an exciting profession of which you are proud to be a member?
One way to ensure a rewarding ethical career is to work ‘in house’ for a non-profit organisation. Various campaign groups and charities
employ lawyers in a diverse range of fields, including human rights, immigration, and international development. Naturally these roles are
highly desirable and, accordingly, applications
and interviews are competitive.
An alternative is to work for an ethical
law firm or chambers. However, what makes a
firm ethical is clearly a matter of interpretation.
Some firms or chambers specialise in environmental law, charity law, or human rights and civil
liberties. Alternatively, despite swingeing cuts to
legal aid, working in immigration, social security, employment or criminal defence can offer a
challenging but gratifying chance to help people
in real need to get access to justice. Other more
conventional commercial firms have embraced
‘corporate social responsibility,’ a phrase you will
find prominently on almost all law firms’ websites. For most firms this includes commitment
to environmental measures and carbon reduc-
tion, a pro bono initiative, and, often, engagement with community projects or local charities.
The cynic would argue this is more about good
publicity and appeasing potential critics than a
genuine commitment to ethical practice. Yet,
whatever their motivation is, it cannot be denied that firms of all sizes are working towards
becoming more ethical. Similarly, the Solicitors
Regulation Authority and Bar Standards Board
work hard to update and enforce their codes of
conduct in an effort to uphold ethical and professional standards.
In spite of this, if you truly want an ethical
career you are going to have to make it yourself.
You can eschew the commercial world and build
a career working for or on behalf of non-profits. But, in reality, the commercial world is hard
to ignore. Nor is any law career without moral
and ethical challenges; such dilemmas are inherent to the profession. The onus is on you to act
ethically in whatever area you work in and to
challenge those practices and values which continue to give lawyers a bad reputation.
Timothy Manley is a final-year MA Law student
and his year’s student representative.