Yes, I did paint with a broad brush.  And I hear ya.  And most of the lawyers I've worked with were fully compliant ("ethical") at least to the point where they were confident of not getting caught. Which takes us back....

I was once very impressed with my boss when he was on a panel discussing how to handle accusations of wrongdoing, especially when  we knew that we were "in the wrong".  His advice was to do three things: Disclose, disclose, disclose.  Acknowledge the error, provide a remedy, and commit to correcting the process which enabled the mistake (add checks and balances).  Sounds like the ethical thing to do....  But his explanation of why: because if you don't you'll just create more problems, more work, more expense, less trust.  It wasn't because it was the right thing to do, necessarily. So it's the motive that's in question.  Good lawyers are experts at risk mitigation.

Sorry to continue this, but was compelled to.... Now I'll STFU!

SGE