Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Florida
What procedural and ethical rules do lawyers often violate and why?
I am currently a second-year law student enrolled in a dispute resolution seminar. I am interested in the interplay between what the rules ''say'' and how things are ''really'' done in the legal arena. Specifically my questions are: (1) In your opinions, what are the procedural and ethical rules that are routinely ignored or modified by laywer and/or judges? and (2) Please rank (1 being the most prevelant, 2 being the second most prevelant, and so on) the following reasons why attorney's violate procedural and ethical rules: (a) personality of the attorney (greed, pride, etc.); (b) leniency of the judge; (c) high stakes of the case; (d) familiarity of counsel with each other; (e) everyone else is doing it; (f) relatively low likelihood of getting caught; (g) ambiguity of the rules; (h) ignorance of the rules; (i) efficiency; (j) legal strategy; (k) doing whatever it takes to win; (l) other (please explain). Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: What procedural and ethical rules do lawyers often violate and why?
In my opinion neither procedural nor ethical rules are "routinely" violated by either judges or lawyers, at least in New Mexico. We are, indeed, a self-policing profession, and it is inconceivable that judges would routinely ignore the rules of procedure without someone reporting them to the judicial oversight committee at once.
Additionally, experienced lawyers in New Mexico rate judges annualy on their performance on many bases, and deficiencies such as you describe would surface there.
Overall, I have found the legal profession largely both ethical and in compliance with procedural rules, and the kinds of abberant behavior you describe are, fortunately, fairly rare.
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