CHAPTER 8 THE ATTORNEY AND LAW FIRM RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS

• Jurisdiction: United States

Mineral Title Examination
(Nov 1977)
CHAPTER 8
THE ATTORNEY AND LAW FIRM RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS
Hugh C. Garner
Attorney at Law
Salt Lake City, Utah

I. WHAT ARE THE LIMITS OF AN ATTORNEY'S DUTY WHEN THE LEGAL DEMANDS OR INTEREST OF A CLIENT CONFLICT WITH HIS OWN SENSE OF WHAT IS JUST AND RIGHT? WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE DUTIES ON SOMEONE, SUCH AS A TITLE EXAMINER, WHO ACTS IN A SPECIALIZED ROLE?

A. Lord Brougham's ethical concepts expressed in his defense of the Queen. Sharswood, An Essay on Professional Ethics, Fifth Ed., 1907, p 86.

B. In contrast, Lord Campbell, speaking of Sir Matthew Hale. 1 Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices, 412.

C. The middle ground as expressed in Chief Justice Gibbons' comment. Rush v. Cavenaugh, 2 Barr 189.

II. AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE, IN ITS DEVELOPMENT OF CANONS OF ETHICS AND A PRESENT CODE OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, C.P.E., HAS BEEN A STORY OF CONTRASTS.

A. The hostility against the profession following the Civil War for what were considered special privileges granted by the government. See Alfred Z. Reed, Training for the Public Profession of the Law, (1921) pp 85-93.

B. The resultant lowering of educational, character and training requirements. Ibid., p 87.

C. Roscoe Pound's description of the ethical cycle. Roscoe Pound, The Lawyer from Antiquity to Modern Times, p 223, quoting George E. Brand, Bar Organization, 34 Journ. Am. Jud. Suc. 38-39 (1950).

D. Efforts of the American Bar Association, beginning in 1875, to establish standards of character, education and training as well as organizing Bar Associations throughout the country. Henry S. Drinker, Legal Ethics, 1953, p 20.

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E. First code of professional ethics formulated by the Alabama State Bar Association of 1887. See 118 Ala. XXIII — XXXIV.

F. The American Bar Association's appointment of a committee on adoption of a Code of Ethics by that Association and action on the committee's report presented at the 1908 Association meeting in adopting recommended Canons of Ethics. See 31 A.B.A. Reports 680 (1907); see 33 A.B.A. Reports 567-569 (1908).

G. The American Bar Association's Ethic's Committee, EC, in its 1913 report summarizes the actions of the various Bar Associations in adopting codes of professional ethics. 39 A.B.A. Report 559-70 (1914).

III. THE CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, (CPR) AS PROMULGATED BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, COMPRISES THREE SEPARATE BUT INTERRELATED PARTS: THE CANONS, ETHICAL...