Happy Friday, everyone. Many years ago now, back when I was in law school, I was having a conversation with Ray (then my fiancé) about the ethics and pitfalls of being an attorney. He was asking probing questions, as he tends to do. Questions like, “What if you realize your client is guilty, but you’ve already committed to defending him—what would you do? What if you kind of suspect your client is guilty, but you aren’t sure? What if your client acts against your advice, and then blames you, and your reputation is on the line but you don’t want to betray your client? What if…?” It was a series of hypotheticals designed to put me, the bright-eyed young future attorney, in as tough an ethical spot as possible, to find out what I would do, what principles and values would sustain me, and how I would respond under such pressure.
The stuff of life
The stuff of life
The stuff of life
Happy Friday, everyone. Many years ago now, back when I was in law school, I was having a conversation with Ray (then my fiancé) about the ethics and pitfalls of being an attorney. He was asking probing questions, as he tends to do. Questions like, “What if you realize your client is guilty, but you’ve already committed to defending him—what would you do? What if you kind of suspect your client is guilty, but you aren’t sure? What if your client acts against your advice, and then blames you, and your reputation is on the line but you don’t want to betray your client? What if…?” It was a series of hypotheticals designed to put me, the bright-eyed young future attorney, in as tough an ethical spot as possible, to find out what I would do, what principles and values would sustain me, and how I would respond under such pressure.