Ethics and Legal Professionalism in Australia

Understand the fundamental principles of lawyering and how to apply them to professional conduct Ethics and Legal Professionalism in Australia introduces students to the ethics and professional responsibilities that they will encounter in practice. It outlines the concepts, rules and conflicts relating to legal ethics in addition to exploring the ambiguous ethical aspects associated with being a lawyer. The text offers a thematic approach, with each chapter focusing on one theme and how it relates to lawyers’ professional obligations. It aims to encourage the development of students’ ‘moral compass’, guiding them on how they might address ethical dilemmas and difficult situations before they are faced with these in reality. This third edition retains the original focus and principles of the previous editions but has been thoroughly updated to address the considerable changes to the legal profession and the environment. Features Offers a thematic approach to lawyers' ethics, as opposed to the 'rules and duties' approach that is no longer popular with some lecturers Views ethics as a process (a less prescriptive approach to some existing texts) Appreciates the diversity of the legal profession and the impact this diversity may have on ethics and professional conduct Brevity: this text is efficient and students can understand the main points quickly without reading extensively Readability: concepts are explained in conversational language that is easy for students to understand New to this Edition Updated to reflect rapid technological advances and ongoing globalisation processes Stronger focus on health and wellbeing, addressing the mental health issues amongst lawyers More case studies included throughout Significant updates to chapters: 2: The Framework of Lawyering – updated to include the application of Uniform Law in Western Australia 5: Loyalty to the Client – References to Lawyer X (Nicola Gobbo) case – Gobbo, while representing a number of significant criminal identities, also acted as a police informant providing information that contributed to the arrest and conviction of those clients 6: Confidentiality - More detail relating to the Lawyer X case, and a discussion of the case of Collaery. The case is ongoing at the time of writing. It concerns the Commonwealth Government’s action in seizing documents from an Australian lawyer representing Timor-Leste. Documents seized included a brief relating to a then current action against the Australian Government before the International Court of Justice 7: Competence – more detail added on a lawyer’s competence as to understanding and using technology, detailed discussion of mental health issues raised in misconduct proceedings and updated to include the relationship of wellbeing to competence 9: Service and Access to Justice – updated to include more on seeking to define access to justice and identifying types of vulnerability.