Ethics-Governance: Article: http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/archives/2000/nov-00-ethics.htm

Ethics & Governance - Resources and Articles

Articles indexes: a \| b \| c \| d \| e \| f \| g \| h \| i \| j \| k \| l \| m \| n \| o \| p \| q \| r \| s \| t \| u \| v \| w \| x \| y \| z \| other

Article - Abstract. To view full article click on the article title.
http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/archives/2000/nov-00-ethics.htm Starving at the Banquet of Justice by Barrie Althoff, WSBA Chief Disciplinary Counsel. Opinions expressed herein are the author's and are not official or unofficial WSBA positions. Through our federal and state constitutions and the efforts of hundreds of thousands of dedicated lawyers, we have created in the United States one of the most carefully wrought justice systems in the world. We have checks and balances on competing governmental interests, and we have a bill of rights that seeks to restrain unwarranted government intrusions in our lives, to assure due process, and to guarantee fundamental rights to individual citizens. We have multiple levels of courts and appeals, and we have over a million lawyers, each of whom has sworn to uphold constitutions and to help people know justice. With all of our riches, with all of our treasured constitutional rights and liberties, with all our wealth of resources, we have a veritable banquet of justice. Why is it, then, that so many of our citizens struggle to find justice and cannot afford to access or participate in that system? Why is it that so very many are starving at the banquet of justice? What went wrong? What can we do about it? The Profession's Proclamations The American Bar Association's Canons of Professional Ethics were adopted by the ABA in Seattle in 1908, and by Washington in 1917. Canon 12 states that in fixing the amount of a lawyer's fees, the client's "poverty may require a less charge, or even none at all" and that "[i]n fixing fees it should never be forgotten that the profession is a branch of the administration of justice and not a mere money-getting trade." The Canons were replaced by the ABA in 1969, and by Washington in 1972, by the ABA's Code of Professional Responsibility. Full Article: http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/barnews/archives/2000/nov-00-ethics.htm


2006 Ethics-Governance.com