Professional_Ethical_Standard

Assignment: Professional Ethical Standards Carla H. Hill ADJ/235 April 24, 2011 George DeAngelis Assignment: Professional Ethical Standards This paper presents an in-depth study of the legal defender position. This will include a job description of the legal defender position, the daily tasks imposed upon the legal defender position under various situations, and an accounting of the moral rules of the profession. Moral rules at times will often meet with ethical dilemmas; these dilemmas as experienced by the legal defender position discussed in depth. Legal Defender Many people dream about a career as a lawyer but not many realize this dream. The reason is that it takes many years of focused study to understand the complicated laws of the United States and how these laws relate to the Constitution. Most people do not have the patience or the energy to do this. Also one needs to acquire a skill at debating and to use this skill to make a point to the jury. This kind of skill cannot be taught in class and its mastery happens slowly over time. People have to be born with the knack for it combined with intense effort makes a good debater. People expect lawyers to help them make sense out of the complicated network of laws that exist. Lawyers like doctors are insanely passionate about their field of work. Probably the most passionate are criminal lawyers. These lawyers debate issues related to serious crime. The United States court system criminals are assigned, free of charge, a defense attorney if they cannot afford one. A prosecuting attorney is also assigned. The job of the prosecuting attorney is to convict the criminal of the accused felonies. Criminal lawyers are a type of trial lawyer. Trial lawyers take cases across a wide range of areas that include corporate, family, and financial arenas (Center for Professional Responsibility). This is an interesting profession. Administering justice is a very noble undertaking. In fact a lawyer’s training and effort can significantly influence the lives of many individuals. These individuals range from criminals to victims, to witnesses and the general population at large. Some lawyers like to write and are adept at crafting legal works. Many of these go on to become politicians and they use their writing skills to craft legislation and thereby create laws. Of primary importance in all of this is the pursuit of justice. Lawyers use their knowledge of the law and prosecution or defense roles to make this happen. Unfortunately, attorneys receive much criticism because there are a few dishonest and use their skills primarily for their own gain. This hatred is wide-spread amongst the populace, especially here in the Unites States, which is the most litigious society in the world. In divorce court, for example, lawyers often increase the demands of their clients; these demands approach ridiculous levels. The lawyers are ultimately working on behalf of their clients. The Economic Crimes Prosecutor The Eaton county Michigan assistant prosecuting attorney’s specialty is in the area of financial crimes. These crimes include financial scams, bill delinquency, and fraudulent checks. The Eaton County Prosecution Office created a financial offenders unit. The financial offenders unit was created to handle cases of fraudulent checks, and financial scams. Another of its mandates was to monitor risky financial decisions made by merchants running local businesses. This financial offenders unit was created in October 2002 the Prosecution office was responsible for moving its practices to business-related activities. The goal of the business unit is to ensure that proper justice is served as quietly and efficiently as possible for cases involving financial controversies. Most of the cases are settled out of court. These settlements as such may involve plea bargaining. Complex economic crimes cannot be approached by an out of court settlement, as a result criminal prosecution is necessary (Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney Economic Crimes Unit). The office door of the economic crimes prosecutor is open to all that need financial help. As a result the prosecutor has a wide variety of visitors. In fact, customers can range from Lansing Mall emcees to downtown business proprietors selling silver jewelry. On a typical day the prosecutor quickly reviews the case load. Then for each case all of the legal papers are arranged, briefs are written that explain the nature of the papers, a cover letter is written describing the general package, and forwarded to all individuals who have a stake in the case. These efforts take the prosecutor to the lunch hour. Then after lunch the prosecutor attends court for cases currently running, attends appointments with clients, and updates the supervisor on the progress of various cases. During the supervisor meeting future cases are mapped out. The prosecutor is present at all trial dates and is always prepared. Before a trial the prosecutor prepares the client for trial, and takes a little time thereafter to gather information and create arguments to be used during trial. The prosecutor also must imagine all of the counter arguments that will be brought to bear by the defense attorneys on behalf of their clients. The prosecutor must prepare for these as well. Collecting evidence is very important and requires monumental effort. The prosecutor’s team and the client study the evidence, all are ready and expecting to deal with alternative evidence if presented. The prosecutor usually has a large, previous case history used to define what kind of approach to use in current cases. Aside from all of this the prosecutor researches, writes, and consults. As a result the day is very long. The job is gratifying because the prosecutor and the team ensure that justice is served with respect to economic crimes (Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney. Economic Crimes Unit). The median annual income for the prosecutor is $106,000. This is quite a bit lower than lawyers in private sector firms who can make five times as much (Occupational Employment and Wages May 2008). Ethics issues Lawyers deal with ethical dilemmas every day. In one case a lawyer’s client held back information regarding his or her past (they essentially broke the law), but in the current case they were legitimate victims of check fraud. During research, the lawyer discovered the client’s past crimes. The lawyer decided to continue the case, arguing successfully for his clients. When the case ended he told his superior about his clients past. As a result the superior began a number of inquires for the victims of the prosecutors former clients. The case finally went to court. The lawyer’s old client argued that there was an ethics violation. The former lawyer violated his or her rights by exposing confidential information. The judge was not convinced. He argued that the facts surrounding the lawyer’s old clients arose independently of the clients, surfaced as a result of an independent criminal investigation. As a result justice had to be applied (Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney Economic Crimes Unit). One of the most important mandates of legal ethics is confidentiality. Another mandate is protecting the clients interests at all costs. Whatever the client says to the lawyer stays with the lawyer. This information cannot be used against the client in a court of law. The difficulty is that a lawyer is sworn to secrecy with respect to the clients information. The lawyer is also supposed to uphold the law. If the lawyer learns of shading dealings in the client’s past the following dilemma arises: either deliver justice against the client, or protect the client at all costs. Correct solutions to this conundrum are difficult to come by. Somehow the lawyer has to be successful at navigating these uncertain waters following due process. Of course there always is the option to remove oneself from the case and just avoid the ethical dilemma altogether; but this certainly is not a solution to the problem. In the case above the lawyer dealt with the situation by first arguing for the clients in the courtroom. Then after achieving victory for the clients, the past was leaked to the judge, who took the matter into his own hands. The prosecutor decided to leave alone the clients law breaking history. Engaging in this was against ethical criteria and would have resulted in embarrassment for the legal profession. When the clients were brought to trial, their defense attorney debated that the prosecutor ignored privacy obligations with respect to the former clients. The prosecution in this case debated that the information was found by research initiated to protect the clients. Furthermore, the information did not come from the clients themselves (Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney Economic Crimes Unit). So the information could be exposed to others. The lawyer described to this day prosecutes financial cases, even though the check fraud case previously described his ethical values and questioned constantly. Maybe if people knew of the kinds of dilemmas he faced they would not think that way. The lawyer does not fear this ridicule at all because it is of little importance. In his mind the central goal of law is not to defend oneself but to administer justice. If administering justice sets things aright, by reducing economic crime for Eaton County all is well. Personal happiness is secondary. The efficiency with which he administers this justice is symbolic of economic crimes do not pay (Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney. Economic Crimes Unit). References Centre for Professional Responsibility. Retrieved June 7, 2009 from http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mrpc_toc.html Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney. Economic Crimes Unit. Retrieved June 7, 2009 from http://207.74.121.45/Prosecutor/ECU.htm Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2008. Retrieved July 7, 2009 from http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes231011.htm