As a position of privilege in the society, lawyers hold legal knowledge which is almost holding legal power. It is also a big business that brings about £32,000 million in the UK alone. But it’s not easy, because being lawyers mean being professional. Being professionals, certain level of profes...
1. Professionalism:
As a position of privilege in the society, lawyers hold legal knowledge which is almost
holding legal power. It is also a big business that brings about £32,000 million in the UK
alone. But it’s not easy, because being lawyers mean being professional. Being professionals,
certain level of professionalism is to be maintained.
Professionalism is a system of occupational control that requires specialist knowledge,
autonomy, has social prestige to maintain, strict entry requirements, commitment to Code of
Ethics and Conduct, owes fiduciary obligations to clients and has legal status by the state.
Legal professionalism is no different, with it requires observation of legal principles and
certain entry standards.
1a. Ethics in professionalism:
Commonly, professionals work outside fixed hours and heed to a client’s call whenever
needed and legal professionals do so too. Boon suggests that such professional ethics is
achieved through state devolvement which aims for the profession to act in the interest of the
public. Abbott and Abel theorizes that ethics is linked to professional jurisdiction and should
it fail, professionalism and ethical commitments will decrease.
However, some criticize professionalism as justifying privileged position and a monopoly of
the market.
(i) Models of professionalism:
John Leubsdorf promotes three models of professionalism:
1. Professionalism as helping the market Professionalism enables clients to be informed
about the services on offer, and ensures that there is a reasonable quality of service that is
reasonably priced.
2. Professionalism as promoting a public utility This model sees professional services as
being a matter of public good, and argues that we need professional regulation to ensure the
efficiency and quality of these services.
3. Professionalism as protection This model recognises the dangers that exist in a relationship
between a lawyer and a client, which can work against the interests of a client.
Professionalism provides a means of ensuring that there is intervention to protect clients.
Therefore, a lawyer can be a self-sacrificial servant of the good of the public and the justice
system, or he can be greedy, self-serving money-grabber. As Terence Halliday puts it,
professional ethics holds ‘in uneasy juxtaposition the two faces of professionalism—the one
monopolistic, even narcissistic, and the other benign, even altruistic’. Some aspects of legal
ethics ensure the promotion of the interests of clients and some promote the interests of
lawyers. Eg. No regulation on fees of lawyers.
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