It goes without saying that lawyers serve an important role in the society. However, the legal profession is also challenging. While some legal professionals may be glorified, some may be condemned. It is because lawyers and attorneys may find themselves on different divides. A lawyer can either seek justice for the defendant or the complainant. It even becomes challenging when a legal professional tries to seek justice for a client who is perceived to be on the wrong. This article investigates the legal dilemma faced by lawyers, the common narrative in law, and how the future of legal ethics in America looks like.
To understand how the future of legal ethics in America will look like, it is important to investigate how the current, as well as, the past legal practice in the US operates. According to Markovits (2011), the legal environment of the US has been guided by narratives; that the country or the various states have been violating people’s rights, and therefore, it is the duty of the lawyer to protect the public from such violations. From such a perspective, the government is always on the wrong. Additionally, the legal profession has been making the government to look like it does not care about its citizens because it discriminates them by subjecting them to punishment. According to critics, lawyers forget that the government allows punishes only those people who break the law. It is also the same laws that the lawyers or attorneys use to defend their clients. The narrative often presented is that a lawyer is an aggressive individual who defends a client from loss of life, property, or freedom which is threatened by the government.
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Some lawyers in the past have been viewed as true champions of justice and consequently used to propagate the current narrative. One prominent example is Andrew Hamilton who defended a prerevolutionary patriot known as John Zenger against being convicted with the criminal libel charge (Markovits, 2011). To propagate the narrative, it is reported that Hamilton faced dire consequences in regard to his life and even his legal career. As the narrative goes, Hamilton defended Zenger fearlessly despite all the threats he faced. Another prominent case was when Abraham Lincoln cross-examined a lying witness during a case that involved murder charges against his client. Lincoln proved that there was no moon on the particular night of the crime to enable the witness see what he claimed to have seen. Many people, therefore, thought that Lincoln had rescued an innocent citizen from unjust prosecution.
Critics such as Fitch (2014) argue that the popular narrative about the legal practice has made many people to have the view that lawyers are honest, a perception that might not be true. As a result of the perception, lawyers for a long time have been left to operate independently, without being guided or restricted. Perhaps what most people forget is that lawyers are just like any other professionals and that they offer their services for a fee. It is impossible that all lawyers will deliver their duties without any faults. In fact currently the number of lawyers is high hence there is a possibility of high competition. Members of the public are also more informed concerning their representation in court. It is highly likely that in the attempt to get or compete for clients, lawyers could engage in malpractices. Also, some lawyers may use different antics to try to win cases so that their popularity rises. Therefore, the legal field is just like any other career and will have ethical issues.
In the contemporary legal environment, there are various ethical concerns that may face the legal field. First, is the issue of bribery or fraud that assumes different perspectives. One of the forms is where some lawyers try to bribe judges or members of the jury to influence the outcome of cases. In criminal cases, some lawyers know that they are likely to lose their cases especially when their clients were on the wrong (Hazard, 2014). When judges or members of the jury accept the bribes, the defendants may cause further harm to the victims. Some lawyers may also try to bribe lawyers on the other side of the case to weaken their stance. There are cases where lawyers abandon cases or refuse to collaborate with their clients because of being bribed. As a result, some lawyers lose cases which ought not to have been lost. Their clients may be imprisoned unfairly or subjected to other penalties.
Secondly, some lawyers may charge too high legal fees. It becomes even worse when a lawyer disregards the initial contract and demands more money to proceed with a client’s case. Such instances are not only frustrating to clients, but also place the legal practice in bad light. Some critics have condemned the legal career as being full of individuals who are untrustworthy, and who use extortion to defend justice. Another concern is that some lawyers intimidate witnesses, defendants or complaints in court in an attempt to subvert justice ( Cohen, 2017) . Lawyers may use intimidating questions or phrases that people may not understand to create confusion so that the person being questioned gives wrong information, which works to the advantage of the lawyer. Many people, especially those who have never been in a law class or speak English as a second language may not understand certain phrases.
Third, some lawyers may only represent clients who are from their ethnic or racial background. It is unethical because lawyers are supposed to provide equal representation to clients regardless of their origin or appearance. For instance, it is common to see whites being represented by only white lawyers and vice versa for the blacks. Such a representation makes some cases look like racial battles instead of seeking for legal justice. The legal practice, just like any other career, needs to help the various initiatives of building mutual relations with people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, there are instances where some lawyers take it personal when they either lose or win some cases. In the event that they lose cases, some lawyers do not relate well with their colleagues who were on the other side of the case (Hazard, 2014). Some go up to the point of insulting their colleagues or in extreme cases, causing harm. Lastly, some lawyers try to paint their colleagues as incompetent in an attempt to draw more clients. Some may go to the point of hiring criminals to destroy their colleagues’ files or evidence to sabotage them. Their colleagues may then lose particular cases, a situation that portrays them in bad light.
Owing to the various legal malpractices, the future of legal ethics in America is projected to change significantly. One of the most important things that will change is the manner in which lawyers handle their client’s information. For a long time, lawyers have been trusted with their clients’ information but some of them have recklessly or deliberately released it to third parties. As a result, some cases have been compromised. As Burger and Langford (2015) point out, lawyers will be held responsible for any actions that may compromise their clients’ privacy. That means that they could be prosecuted, suspended or expelled from the bar. Contrary to the past where people feared lawyers and did not raise any complaints in case they were dissatisfied with the conduct of lawyers, many people will raise complaints readily in the future. The success of any lawyer will depend on how well he or she interacts with clients, as well as, personal values. Lawyers may not be judged by how aggressive they are but by how much they observe openness and integrity.
Perhaps the best indicator of how legal ethics in America will look like is the education curriculum of individuals pursuing legal fields. According to Beca (2016), since there have been ethical issues in the legal environment, it is important for students to be taught how to conduct themselves when carrying out their duties. When students are taught positive values that concern their environment, they tend to get used to the good values and will find no problem practicing them in the future. Nowadays it is not just about students learning law concepts, reciting them and defending their clients. There is concern about who teaches the students, the environment in which they learn, and the content of the curriculum. In the future, institutions will ensure that people who teach students are not only qualified, but also have a good track record. If people with bad conduct are allowed to teach students, there is a high likelihood that they may influence some students negatively. It is important that students interact with people who have reputable conduct for better outcomes in their career.
Unlike in the past where students spent a lot of time in class grasping legal concepts, all students of law may be required to have experience in a legal setting before they graduate. The experience will involve learning, interpreting, and applying the concepts. As early as now, students are presented with practical cases and evaluated on how well they interpret them. The objective is to assess and prepare them for their future obligations (Burger and Langford, 2015). The legal curriculum will not only focus on how well students impress lecturers with legal concepts but will be about educating students about dynamic aspects. Therefore, some instructors from other fields such as communication and ethics departments will prove to be essential to students specializing in law. It will be helpful because proficiency in communication and having good conduct always determines the success of a lawyer.
With the evolution of technology, the legal environment is projected to change. Ensuring that a client’s information is not lost will involve embracing modern methods of storing information. Files containing critical information are prone to arson attacks or theft. All lawyers will safeguard their clients’ information on computers ( Cohen, 2017) . Even so, they will have to use passwords which will make them be more responsible. When third parties access their clients’ information, they will have to bear the consequences. They will be questioned on how the third party accessed the information. Many members of the public may not prefer seeking the services of lawyers who have not modernized their operations. People will have a negative perception of lawyers who still use conventional methods in their offices. The level of safety of information may therefore be measured by how well a lawyer uses modern technology. A client may not trust a lawyer with a case involving online fraud if the lawyer is not conversant with technology matters. It will be up to the lawyers to ensure that they update themselves with technology to build clients’ trust.
In the past, most cases were held in closed sessions. That means that members of the public were not allowed to follow court proceedings. The outcome of such cases were subject to doubt, especially when they went against the popular public opinion. Although positive steps have been made to ensure transparency, more tremendous changes are projected to happen in the future. Cases that have public interest will have to be shown on camera, and the outcomes of the proceedings published. The past performance records of all lawyers will be made known to the public. Such measures will ensure that lawyers observe moral conduct at all times to avoid putting their future legal practice in jeopardy. Another change that may occur concerns implementing laws and enforcing them such that lawyers are not exempted from prosecution. That means that lawyers will also have to conduct themselves in line with rules. Lastly, because of the issues of globalization, lawyers will have to be taught how to interact with people from different cultures (Burger and Langford, 2015). Since, lawyers will not be confined to only their countries of origin, they will need to be trained to work in diverse environments so that some of their actions do not offend people from other cultures.
In summary, legal ethics might undergo a lot of research with the objective of improving the conduct of various legal experts, especially the lawyers. Contrary to the past perception that lawyers are superior and honest hence their conduct left undeterred, the future will have stricter guidelines to define the operations of lawyers. To a large extent, members of the public will judge the conduct of lawyers through raising of complaints or even complimenting the lawyers. Lawyers who are portrayed in bad light will be probed and will take responsibility for their actions. Also, the outcomes of the cases will be investigated to find out whether there is any compromise. Lastly, the legal environment will have to adapt to globalization and technology to ensure that lawyers’ work is free from biasness or compromise.
References
Beca, J. (2016). Teaching Legal Ethics to Law Students: Why, What, How and Who Might Teach? Asian Journal of Legal Education , 3 (1), 85-94.
Burger, E. S., & Langford, C. M. (2015). The Future of Legal Ethics: Some Potential Effects of Globalization & (and) Technological Change on Law Practice Management in the Twenty-First Century. Widener LJ , 15 , 267.
Cohen, M. (2017). The Future Lawyer . Forbes.com . Retrieved 9 April 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2017/05/30/the-future-lawyer/#14764111d187
Feldman, H. L. (2013). Beyond the Model Rules: The Place of Examples in Legal Ethics. Geo. J. Legal Ethics , 12 , 409.
Fitch, B. D. (2014). Law enforcement ethics: Classic and contemporary issues . Los Angeles: SAGE
Geraghty, P. (2016). History of U.S. legal ethics standards . Americanbar.org . Retrieved 9 April 2018, from https://www.americanbar.org/publications/youraba/2016/december-2016/a-brief-history-of-the-development-of-legal-ethics-standards-in-.html
Hazard Jr, G. C. (2014). The future of legal ethics. Yale Law Journal , 1239-1280.
Markovits, D. (2011). A modern legal ethics: Adversary advocacy in a democratic age . Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
