Respectfully, please explain where I'm wrong? Are you guys saying that all lawyers always confine there professional activities to doing what is ethical? If this were the case, there would never be anyone available to defend clearly guilty parties (to get them off or limit their liability).

Hopefully you read my follow-up post suggesting that I'm talking ethics in the profession, not in the person.

Perhaps it's in how we define "ethics". Websters: a discipline dealing with good and evil and moral duty. While the intent of this definition can be argued, my personal attitude re: moral duty is to do the right thing - that's my moral code and doing otherwise would be unethical.

However, if I were an attorney, I would recognize the potential conflicts and adopt an attitude that supporting my client, whether guilty or innocent, is my moral duty and therefore ethical. But not being in that position, I'd have a real rough time stepping up to defend a rapist, child molestor, or other in a situation where all the evidence indicates guilt. It's the profession. And this why I believe (as did the law students at that university) ethics cannot be directly applied to the legal profession.

Do note that the context of the discussion from which my original post arose, Professional Ethics was given as an excuse but when further explored, the excuse boiled down to fear of the perception of doing something wrong/illegal or the inability to make money, and nothing else. I did see him say "because it would be in conflict with my personal ethical code".

I guess that, for me, it comes down to the basic premise of whether it is ethical to defend the guilty. Sure, they deserve a defense. But it would be tough to figure just where to draw the line. And more to the context of the originating discussion, the question of ethics had more to do with fear of getting caught or the fear of misssing out on income. To a normal person, these would not be the primary guides in determining whether certain behavior is ethical.

Guess I should just keep my pet peeves to myself! I did not intend or desire to offend anyone.

And, okay Gil, I KNOW nuttin'! LOL

SGE