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Teel-Client Representation Running head: CLIENT REPRESENTATION

Client Representation Holly A. Teel, BBA September 26, 2011 LS501-01: Ethics and the Professional Instructor: Stephen Muffler Kaplan University

H. Teel-Client Representation CLIENT REPRESENTATION In the legal profession ethics and morals standards are governed in many ways, such as professional organizations, society, the laws in which legal profession swear to up hold, and the attorneys own moral compass. Each of these governing bodies utilize, adopt, and apply one or

more or combination of common ethical principles of Utilitarianism, Egoism, Kants Categorical Imperative, and Interpretations of the Golden Rule from Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Confucianism. In the case study of Jane, each one of these ethical principles will be examined and be applied to the actions of Janes attorney, who forges Janes signature to a hotel registry to save Jane from being wrongly convicted. UTILITARIANISM Utilitarianism is the concept in which the happiness of the greatest number of people in the society is considered the greatest good. According to Catherine Rainbow (2002), in her web post Descriptions of Ethical Theories and Principles, Catherine gives the following example: .if a person lights a fire in a fireplace in order to warm his friends, and then the fire burns down the house because the soot in the chimney caught on fire, then the utilitarian now seems to have chosen an unethical decision. The unexpected house fire is judged as unethical because it did not benefit his friends. In the case of Janes attorney forging her signature, under the utilitarianism concept the action of forgery would be immoral based upon the future consequences of the attorneys actions would not benefit Jane. Janes attorney as a utilitarian would weigh the consequences of his actions and the consequences of actions of a similar dilemma before making his decision. Such assumptions of future consequences may not be as easily defined or determined, however in the case of an attorney forging any signature, Janes attorney could assume with a fair level of accuracy that the future consequences would out weight the good his actions. This assumption

H. Teel-Client Representation can be made with a high level of certainty with all the proven documentation he would have readily available to him regarding the court opinions regarding disciplinary actions of attorneys

for forgery. For instance, if the actions were to take place in the State of Florida, Janes attorney would have researched Florida Bar v. McFall, 863 So. 2d 303, 307 (Fla. 2003). In determining a proper sanction, the Court will take into consideration the three purposes of lawyer discipline: .First, the judgment must be fair to society, both in terms of protecting the public from unethical conduct and at the same time not denying the public the services of a qualified lawyer as a result of undue harshness in imposing penalty. Second, the judgment must be fair to the respondent, being sufficient to punish a breach of ethics and at the same time encourage reformation and rehabilitation. Third, the judgment must be severe enough to deter others who might be prone or tempted to become involved in like violations. Ironically, the court would take a utilitarianism approach when making its determination regarding the proper and just sanctions against an attorney whom engages in the acts of forgery. EGOISM Egoism is the concept that states we ought to only do what is in our personal rational selfinterest. Moreover, Psychological Egoism is the concept which means, 'deep down' all our actions are based on self-interest, so that even so-called good deeds are done just for the satisfaction we get presumably, because that is how we have been raised by our parents. Any act, no matter how altruistic it might seem, is actually motivated by some selfish desire of people engaging in such act, (e.g., desire for reward, avoidance of guilt, personal happiness). In the case of Janes attorney forging her signature, under the psychological egoism concept the action of forgery would be moral because he would feel good afterwards. He would have engaged in forgery not to save Jane, but to solely for the warm and fuzzy feeling he would achieve but the action its self.

H. Teel-Client Representation KANTS CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE Kants Categorical Imperative is the concept that all moral statements should be general laws, which apply to everyone under any circumstances. There should be no occasions under which any exceptions are made. In the case of Janes attorney forging her signature, under the Kants Categorical

Imperative concept the action of forgery would be moral in the long scheme of things, due to the ultimate good will it would serve by saving Janes life from the death penalty. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE GOLDEN RULE FROM HINDUISM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM, BUDDHISM, AND CONFUCIANISM The concept of the Golden Rule from all six religions has the same meaning do unto others as you would have them do to you. In the case of Janes attorney forging her signature, under the Golden Rule concept the action of forgery could be both moral and immoral. On the one hand, one could argue that Janes attorneys action can be justified by mere explanation that Jane if she had the chance would engaged in the act of forgery to save the life of her attorney based upon their friendship, thus making his actions of forgery justified and moral. On the other hand, one could make the opposite argument that the act of forgery is immoral or unethical based upon the mere fact that Janes own moral compass and the golden rule, meaning Jane, herself would not engage in the act of forgery therefore, her attorney engaging in the act on her behalf is immoral and wrong. MY FINAL THOUGHTS The acts of Janes attorney in my opinion are unethical and cannot be justified under any of the any of normative theories. Janes attorney, by the of his choice of profession should have

H. Teel-Client Representation a higher moral compass and realize the best way to assist Jane is through the court system. By not engaging in a criminal act to save Jane would do more good than any other action. If the situation was different and the person accused or at the risk of the death penalty was a family member or a child of mine would my opinion change? Sadly, the answer is no.

The damage the unethical act would cause would be too great that it would not be worth the risk. The punishment of act would have negative consequences such as imprisonment for me, and the person I was trying to protect if, thus making the risks too great. My family would be best served by finding alternatives to the truth of what truly happen versus the grief and guilt they would feel as a result of an unethical and dishonest act. CONCLUSION In the case study of Jane, each one of these ethical principles have been examined and be applied to the actions of Janes attorney, who forges Janes signature to a hotel registry to save Jane from being wrongly convicted and from an ethical point of view the act of forgery is unethical. In all principles the bad consequences of the act forgery far out way the good or logical consequences of Janes attorney.

References Florida Bar v. McFall, 863 So. 2d 303, 307 (Fla. 2003).

H. Teel-Client Representation Rainbow, Catherine for Biology 372 at Davidson College, Descriptions of Ethical

Theories and Principles, 2002 Department of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035. Online. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/kabernd/indep/carainbow/Theories.htm. Retrieved September 27, 2011.