Explain the nature of the role that legal professionals play in society. You may briefly refer to the Codes of
Conduct. Are lawyers appropriately limited by ethics and their Codes of Conduct?
In order to understand the nature of the role that legal professionals play in society as well as if they are
limited by ethics, we must first understand what it means to be a legal professional. According to The
Law Society, a legal professional has commitment to their ethics; these ethics are: Serving the interests of
consumers of legal services, acting in the interests of justice, and acting with integrity and honesty
according to widely recognised moral principles1. Some examples of legal professionals can include
Barristers, Arbitrators, Judges, and Solicitors who all have a Code of Conduct. The primary argument is
that lawyers are limited by ethics, but to the extent that is necessary and nature of their role is to not insert
their own moral opinion, but to provide a service that delivers the truth and justice effectively without
personal interference. Without this restriction, the law would not be uniformly applied and would vary
significantly across different people with different moral codes.
Lawyers are supposed to participate in Neutral Partisanship, which is defined to be ‘what are traditionally
considered the lawyer’s obligatory duties to accept a client [...] regardless of the morality of their cause’2.
Lawyers are supposed to fit into this definition via their Codes of Conduct as well as their general
impression; Lawyers are supposed to be ‘serving the interests of consumers of legal services’ and as a
result create the image of an advocate for your best interests and representative of justice3. In order to do
this, the Codes of Conduct was created which, if broken, can lead to a reevaluation of the lawyer’s career.
For example, in s1.3, it states that ‘You perform all undertakings given by you’ and in s1.4 ‘You do not
mislead or attempt to mislead your clients, the court or others, either by your own acts or omissions’
which maintains the nature of a legal professional to be honest and available to everyone4. However, this
can cause issues particularly when the client at hand is either blatantly at fault or has committed
something that is blatantly against the lawyer’s personal morals.
When this issue presents itself, the ‘cab-rank rule’ comes into play. According to Jowitt’s Dictionary of
English Law, the cab-rank rule is that all barristers must accept instructions to act in any field irrespective
of their personal beliefs or opinions that they have formed towards the client5. When it comes to more
heinous crimes like murder or rape, from the outside perspective it is incredibly hard to defend the
accused when they are blatantly guilty. Since the BSB (Bar Standards Board) has similar Codes of
Conduct to the SRA, it is the duty of the barrister or legal representative to provide the same quality of
service to get the best possible outcome for the client. Despite the nature of the client, everyone is entitled
to competent legal representation6. But this can limit a lawyer when it comes to finding the most justified
outcome, even if it is not the most ideal outcome for the client. Consequently this presents an issue with
the nature of the role that legal professionals play; they are supposed to be representatives of justice and
the law, whilst also having their clients’ best interests at heart. They cannot withhold legal services if ‘the
1
——, ‘Ethics in Law’ (The Law Society, 2020) <https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/regulation/ethics-in-law> accessed 06/12/22
2
Emily Henderson ‘Professional Legal Ethics: Critical Interrogations by Donald Nicolson and Julian Webb’ [2000] volume 59 The
Cambridge Law Journal, 622
3
——, ‘Ethics in Law’ (The Law Society, 2020) <https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/regulation/ethics-in-law> accessed 06/12/22
4
Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘SRA Assessment of Character and Suitability Rules’ SRA Standards and Regulations [2019]
<https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-solicitors/> accessed 04/12/22.
5
William Jowitt ‘Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law’ [2019] 5th Ed.
6
Nigel Duncan, Oliver Hanmer, and John-Paul MacNamara ‘The ‘cab rank’ rule and non-discrimination’ in John-Paul
MacNamara ‘Professional Ethics’ (Oxford University Press 2022)
Conduct. Are lawyers appropriately limited by ethics and their Codes of Conduct?
In order to understand the nature of the role that legal professionals play in society as well as if they are
limited by ethics, we must first understand what it means to be a legal professional. According to The
Law Society, a legal professional has commitment to their ethics; these ethics are: Serving the interests of
consumers of legal services, acting in the interests of justice, and acting with integrity and honesty
according to widely recognised moral principles1. Some examples of legal professionals can include
Barristers, Arbitrators, Judges, and Solicitors who all have a Code of Conduct. The primary argument is
that lawyers are limited by ethics, but to the extent that is necessary and nature of their role is to not insert
their own moral opinion, but to provide a service that delivers the truth and justice effectively without
personal interference. Without this restriction, the law would not be uniformly applied and would vary
significantly across different people with different moral codes.
Lawyers are supposed to participate in Neutral Partisanship, which is defined to be ‘what are traditionally
considered the lawyer’s obligatory duties to accept a client [...] regardless of the morality of their cause’2.
Lawyers are supposed to fit into this definition via their Codes of Conduct as well as their general
impression; Lawyers are supposed to be ‘serving the interests of consumers of legal services’ and as a
result create the image of an advocate for your best interests and representative of justice3. In order to do
this, the Codes of Conduct was created which, if broken, can lead to a reevaluation of the lawyer’s career.
For example, in s1.3, it states that ‘You perform all undertakings given by you’ and in s1.4 ‘You do not
mislead or attempt to mislead your clients, the court or others, either by your own acts or omissions’
which maintains the nature of a legal professional to be honest and available to everyone4. However, this
can cause issues particularly when the client at hand is either blatantly at fault or has committed
something that is blatantly against the lawyer’s personal morals.
When this issue presents itself, the ‘cab-rank rule’ comes into play. According to Jowitt’s Dictionary of
English Law, the cab-rank rule is that all barristers must accept instructions to act in any field irrespective
of their personal beliefs or opinions that they have formed towards the client5. When it comes to more
heinous crimes like murder or rape, from the outside perspective it is incredibly hard to defend the
accused when they are blatantly guilty. Since the BSB (Bar Standards Board) has similar Codes of
Conduct to the SRA, it is the duty of the barrister or legal representative to provide the same quality of
service to get the best possible outcome for the client. Despite the nature of the client, everyone is entitled
to competent legal representation6. But this can limit a lawyer when it comes to finding the most justified
outcome, even if it is not the most ideal outcome for the client. Consequently this presents an issue with
the nature of the role that legal professionals play; they are supposed to be representatives of justice and
the law, whilst also having their clients’ best interests at heart. They cannot withhold legal services if ‘the
1
——, ‘Ethics in Law’ (The Law Society, 2020) <https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/regulation/ethics-in-law> accessed 06/12/22
2
Emily Henderson ‘Professional Legal Ethics: Critical Interrogations by Donald Nicolson and Julian Webb’ [2000] volume 59 The
Cambridge Law Journal, 622
3
——, ‘Ethics in Law’ (The Law Society, 2020) <https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/regulation/ethics-in-law> accessed 06/12/22
4
Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘SRA Assessment of Character and Suitability Rules’ SRA Standards and Regulations [2019]
<https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-solicitors/> accessed 04/12/22.
5
William Jowitt ‘Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law’ [2019] 5th Ed.
6
Nigel Duncan, Oliver Hanmer, and John-Paul MacNamara ‘The ‘cab rank’ rule and non-discrimination’ in John-Paul
MacNamara ‘Professional Ethics’ (Oxford University Press 2022)
