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Parker and Evans's Inside Lawyers' Ethics provides a practical and engaging introduction to ethical decision-making in legal practice in Australia. Underpinned by four theoretical concepts – adversarial advocacy, responsible lawyering, moral activism and ethics of care – this text analyses legal and professional frameworks, highlighting relevant parts of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules. Case studies and discussion questions offer contemporary, practical examples of the application of ethics. The book also addresses the challenge of ethical action and offers techniques to deal with ethical conflicts.This edition has been comprehensively updated and discusses the implications of advances in legal technology, mental ill-health in the profession and the complexities of government legal practice. A new chapter covers lawyers' ethical obligation to address the legal challenges posed by climate change. Written by an expert author team, Parker and Evans's Inside Lawyers' Ethics empowers readers to identify ethical challenges and resolve them through good decision-making practices.

This paper examines the ethical behaviour of new lawyers from two contrasting points of view. First, we review the prevalence and type of ethical misconduct by lawyers in the Australian state of Vi...

This chapter will explore the links between well-being and ethical professionalism. Krieger’s research suggests that the psychological factors that influence whether lawyers are mentally healthy and happy (thriving) also influence their ethical decision-making and level of professionalism. Self-Determination Theory holds that, to live a satisfying life, several psychological needs must be met: our needs for ‘autonomy’, ‘competence’ and ‘relatedness’. A professional exhibits integrity (autonomy), competence and service, and displays interpersonal skills when relating to colleagues and clients (relatedness to others). Our workplace can influence whether we meet our basic needs and are able to express/enact our values. Workplace culture plays a critical role in encouraging or discouraging ethical behaviour. A workplace that takes into consideration the many influences on our ethical decision-making (cognitive, psychological and social) can create a more positive ethical culture. In turn, it seems that effective regulation can encourage legal practices to build more ethical cultures. But ethical behaviour is not determined by workplace culture. While it is often difficult to resist a workplace culture or a superior’s direction to act unethically, if we understand how we are influenced by our environment, we are more likely to be aware of that effect, and learn how to counter it. We are more likely to enact our values and in doing so, it seems that we so shore up our well-being.

Legal ethics pedagogy does not often attend to the gap between principles and effective action. A pedagogy that does attend to this gap is ‘Giving Voice to Values’ (GVV). Developed by a US business academic, Mary Gentile, GVV focuses not on the normative questions of 'what is the right thing to do?' but on the behavioural question 'how do we get the right thing done?' GVV has much to offer efforts to foster ethical behaviour in lawyers. In this article, I situate GVV within the behavioural ethics literature, which examines how and why people make the decisions they do in the ethical realm. I then turn to a discussion of the GVV curriculum and a case study of its application in legal education. I report preliminary results from research into the effectiveness of the GVV approach in postgraduate practical legal training. Finally, I encourage legal ethics teachers to experiment with GVV as a way of helping students develop skills for dealing constructively with ethical challenges in legal practice.

This short article outlines some of the issues of legal ethics raised in hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. In particular, the article examines the actions of lawyers for the Catholic Church in one of the Commission’s case studies: the John Ellis case. While the Commission has yet to report its findings from this case study, the material already in the public domain tells a story of a church ill-served by its legal advisors.

Issues of access to justice, ethics and professional responsibility are writ large in a country such as Myanmar. Yet there are signs of hope. This year's Asia Pro Bono Conference was held in Mandal...

(2012). Practising Professionalism: Observations from an Empirical Study of New Australian Lawyers. Legal Ethics: Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 29-55.

I will never believe I have done anything criminally wrong. I did what is business. If I bent any rules, who doesn't? If you are going to punish me, sweep aside the system. If I am guilty, there are many others who should be by my side in the dock.1Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.2

The Cole Inquiry resulted in a five volume report that extensively details the history of AWB Ltd’s dealings with Iraq under the Oil-for-Food Programme (OFFP). In this chapter, I reflect on the role AWB in-house lawyers played in the AWB-Iraq story, exploring how lawyers who are too closely identified with the perceived interests of the client can step over the ethical (even if not the criminal) line, and work against both the client’s best interests and the public interest. I reflect also on the AWB lawyers’ role as counsel for a corporation whose actions had global ramifications. Legal practice today has global reach and I discuss the implications of this for our professional ethical horizons.

Anecdotal evidence suggests new lawyers may struggle as they begin legal practice. Little is known empirically about their actual experiences. This paper provides some insights into what occurs in this transition. It reports on a qualitative study currently underway tracking new lawyers through their first year of practice. Preliminary analysis of data from interviews and from workplace observations suggests clinical legal education can play a significant role in smoothing the transition and helping new lawyers develop their sense of professionalism. into their vocational training year. We track new lawyers in the context of their post-admission practice with a small cohort of recently admitted lawyers interviewed and observed in their day to day practice.We describe what these new lawyers say is important to an effective transition – developing autonomy, learning to deal with uncertainty and finding an accommodation between their developing professional values and those modelled by their firm and colleagues. Clinical programs offer opportunities for an early reflective exposure to these experiences.