Can lawyers be happy?

[Valmy]

Man I am so excited to take both of those exams 

[HVC]

It's important to note that the ethical inquiry is not essentially limited to lawyers at all, but ultimately implicates everyone. The legal system, by setting up such stark contrasts (of parties, interests, procedure, etc.), lends itself more blatantly to provoking these inquiries.  But many of the same questions could (and perhaps should) be asked about the things that professors or accountants or programmers in the course of their work.

I think all professions have a code of ethics.  Engineering does, and both the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam and Professional Engineering Exam have an ethics section.  Accounting must have something similar.  Since programming and professorships don't have professional licensure they may not (or not something universal.)

Accountants do, yes. Its been hammered in a lot recently. Every course I've had that wasn't pure math had a component on ethics.

[HVC]

Man I am so excited to take both of those exams 

Speaking of exams one does not want to take, I have a finance exam tomorrow. 26 pages of equations on the "cheat sheet". 26 god damn pages.

[Savonarola]

Man I am so excited to take both of those exams 

You probably won't have to unless you want to work for the power company or something.  The FE was painful for me because I took it so long after undergraduate; but all the equations are given to you.  The PE was much easier for me (I took it right out of graduate school.)  You can bring in any book you want, so there were people who brought in whole suitcases full of books.  I did it with just a general study guide.

[Savonarola]

Man I am so excited to take both of those exams 

Speaking of exams one does not want to take, I have a finance exam tomorrow. 26 pages of equations on the "cheat sheet". 26 god damn pages.

If it makes you feel any better, the FE guide is over 200 pages of mostly equations.

[crazy canuck]

It's important to note that the ethical inquiry is not essentially limited to lawyers at all, but ultimately implicates everyone. The legal system, by setting up such stark contrasts (of parties, interests, procedure, etc.), lends itself more blatantly to provoking these inquiries.  But many of the same questions could (and perhaps should) be asked about the things that professors or accountants or programmers in the course of their work.

I think all professions have a code of ethics.  Engineering does, and both the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam and Professional Engineering Exam have an ethics section.  Accounting must have something similar.  Since programming and professorships don't have professional licensure they may not (or not something universal.)

Yes, a necessary criteria of being a profession is that it is self regulated and I would think that a code of ethics is an essential part of self regulation.

[Valmy]

Man I am so excited to take both of those exams 

You probably won't have to unless you want to work for the power company or something.  The FE was painful for me because I took it so long after undergraduate; but all the equations are given to you.  The PE was much easier for me (I took it right out of graduate school.)  You can bring in any book you want, so there were people who brought in whole suitcases full of books.  I did it with just a general study guide.

Yeah ok unfortunately working for the power company is exactly what I want to do.  Anyway thanks for the tips.

[Sheilbh]

The defendant can quite easily, and with a semi-reasonable level of credibility, question those facts. Is she really permanently disabled? Is there a chance for recovery? Lets have our doctor examine her to see if they get the same results as your doctor. Lets have our therapist examine her. What are the qualifications of her doctor? ETc., etc. etc. ad naseum.

In the UK at least the court will decide if a single expert witness - like a doctor - is appropriate, or if both sides should have their own experts. They can also limit how many experts the losing side has to pay for.

Similarly they can punish a side for not reasonably settling, even if they win. I don't know if this exists in the US but here the courts have a very active role in trying to make the parties settle and if not to keep costs low. It's the overriding objective to deal 'with a case justly and at proportionate cost' 

Of course another factor here is that the overwhelming majority of civil cases are heard by a judge, not a jury.

In the normal usage of the term to mean some kind of formal system of moral behavior, it is not at all the case that serving your clients interests is always best done in an ethical manner. To the extent that it is true in the more narrow sense you are using, it is a tautology.

My understanding is that broadly the lawyers ethical duty is to act in their clients best interests unless there is another they owe a duty to - the courts or the regulators for example.

Also of my friends the lawyers seem the most ethically bound and concerned by ethics. You think they're bad, talk to an oil trader for ten minutes

So the professional ethics try to come up with rules that delineate the way this agent should or shouldn't serve his principal's interest.  What is produced is often difficult to apply to real situations; at trainings, I've watched an actual State Bar Ethics Committee Chair say about his own hypos "I don't know what the answer is here." 

My lecturer, and my understanding is that ethics is taken far less seriously here (unlike conduct which is regulated), proposed Levinas's interpretation of the other as a decent theoretical basis. Which it is, from the tiny amount I understood

[Savonarola]

Yeah ok unfortunately working for the power company is exactly what I want to do.  Anyway thanks for the tips.

Ah, okay, then you'll definitely have to take the FE/PE.  Why did you choose power as your specialty (if you don't mind my asking)?

[Eddie Teach]

Does he need a reason to seek power? 

[Admiral Yi]

[Eddie Teach]

I don't think Valmy would be that kind of ruler.

[Jacob]

Does he need a reason to seek power? 

[The Brain]

I have a professional code. Do what thou wilt is the whole of the code.

What I... er... wilt, is often to grab some extra cinnamon buns from afternoon meetings.

[Eddie Teach]

I have a professional code. Do what thou wilt is the whole of the code.

Your lifestyle to me seems so tragic.