The virtue of honesty has a direct impact on a lawyer’s presentation of the truth
There is always a practicability bit to everything, even if they seem improbable. People tend to believe that most lawyers can’t uphold ethics and therefore termed as unethical. However, there is less truth in this. Lawyers can be ethical and have values that people intend them to have. The field entails addressing diverse social needs, which, if handled unethically, create a slippery slope in which people act without caring for adverse outcomes. Lawyers represent people whose actions might or might not cause damages to the society and its residents. Through honesty, lawyers can offer a fair and just representation, thereby averting social vices since offenders would face fair trials. Besides, lawyers should maintain high levels of integrity. They should apply intellectual prowess to differentiate wring from wrong. Additionally, temperance and fairness enhance lawyers’ actions while representing clients. Thus, honesty, integrity, temperance, and justice are some of the ethics and values that people intend them to have, which I anticipate to define my career as a lawyer since they are practicable and achievable to a great extent.
The virtue of honesty has a direct impact on a lawyer’s presentation of the truth while representing clients. It is a virtue attainable through a conscious decision to state the fact despite coercion from peers. Thus, it is a virtue inculcated through daily practice across all areas of one’s lifestyle. Patrick states that a lawyer cannot practice law ethically unless acting ethically is done habitually (1999). A lawyer should be honest in everything that they do, whether at the office doing their work or at home, mingling with family and friends, in short living a correct life (Zyl Van 234-245). I aspire to use honesty in determining if the clients caused an action or are victims. I would not bend the law to aid wrongdoers to get away with their offenses. While acting in this manner, it will be easier for the lawyer to have an all-round personality that, even without thinking, will be able to stand by the truth and nothing but the truth. Standing by and for the truth is an integral part of a lawyer. Integrity is having a strict and steadfast adherence to an ethical code, which is what a lawyer should abide by. It goes hand in hand with honesty in that it has to be habitually practiced. I would like an ideal career where I follow the rules of the profession to the letter such as the non-exploitation of my clients in terms of money. It would prevent me from being disbarred or worse being taken to jail.
Despite having these two values, there is the money aspect in which people claim to demean these values. People claim that once a person becomes money-oriented, they forget about honesty and integrity. This claim might be valid. Most lawyers want to climb the ladder to success very quickly. They want to earn money fast and efficiently. They would do anything to get it, including being dishonest and exploiting clients. I also want lots of money. It is one of the reasons why I wanted to be a lawyer because I see how lavishly attorneys live. However, being in a position where I have to lie to get money is one of the things I do not intend to do. I had once fallen into that trap as an intern. I did not get caught, but the outcome of events was sad to witness. The greed of money always sucks lawyers into a realm whereby they forget about ethics and values. The one who pays harshly for the desire of the lawyer is the client, which quite an unfortunate ordeal.
Exploiting people is the game that most lawyers play. They will lie or even hide evidence generally because they would want their case to win. Winning means more money in the bank account and also means more clients. The thing that most lawyers do not understand is that there will still be business enough even when they do not lie or exploit clients (Basler 1953). Many cases come up every day, and many people need help and if lawyers do their work ethically they will still win cases, get the six figure amount of money, get referrals which means more clients. The path to success is the same therefore there is no need to exploit clients for money.
Temperance is also one of the values I would like my career to be associated with. It would simply mean that I get work done. I have to beat deadlines, appear in court on time and ensure everything about my cases are running smoothly. In achieving this I know I will have to put in the extra hours so that I can be able to achieve all my goals. I will just have to persevere because hard work pays. The problem about putting extra hours is overworking myself and if I overwork myself I detach myself form my social life. My social life might suffer at the expense of my work. There would be need to strike a balance. I also have to be fair in doing my work apart from working hard and putting in the extra hours. Ensuring that everyone’s case is treated fairly and no favourism is given to either poor person’s case or a rich person’s case. It is the same thing as ensuring justice to every case (Lewis 2012). This way I can easily gain people’s trust and get more cases to deal with.
Ethics and values can be upheld by a lawyer. If there is consistency in being ethical and upholding societal values, then it would be easy to be an ethical lawyer. The game played by lawyers to get money by exploiting clients is not right. There is a need to change the mindset of the money oriented lawyer so that lawyers can start being termed as ethical rather than unethical