Moral support

‘In our current reputational troubles, the legal profession has a choice: we can either continue to take a beating from critics in parliament and the press, or we can decide to do something positive to turn the story around.’

Gazette columnist Jonathan Goldsmith was on the money when he wrote those words 18 months ago. Doubts, disputes and dilemmas over the scope and efficacy of legal ethics have long departed obscure corners of academe and entered the mainstream.

This struck me forcefully while reading today’s Gazette. I could well have billed this magazine as a special issue on ethics.

First, there is the potential fallout from the Post Office Inquiry, which continues to hear about the role of lawyers. It would of course be improper to prejudge the outcome, but the ramifications may be profound with regard to how solicitors conduct themselves.

There is much more. The government may have U-turned on the environment, but debate continues to intensify on how far lawyers ought, or indeed must, go in combating climate change (see Lawyer in the News, and Sunset clauses). The Chancery Lane Project has set itself the goal of making ‘every contract a climate contract’. Difficult conversations, at the very least, with clients are becoming more common. On Tuesday, meanwhile, the Institute of Business Ethics announced the launch of a taskforce to examine the provision of civil legal services to overseas oligarchs and kleptocrats by UK-based firms. Given the stature of its members – who include Guy Beringer, former senior partner at Allen & Overy – the body’s conclusions are certain to command attention.

Ethics are even climbing the agenda in family. ‘The way many of us work is unsustainable, not fit for purpose and very likely unethical,’ declares Jo O’Sullivan. She wants to see a ‘two-track’ profession, where solicitors work alongside ‘family law solutions professionals’ to get to the right answers for clients.

Outgoing Law Society president Lubna Shuja, who steps down next month, picked a good year to choose legal ethics as the theme of her presidency. But where will all this angst and navel-gazing take us?

Goldsmith has made the case for a new charter of ethics ‘fit for the modern age’. That sounds like an excellent idea – but such a charter will take some drafting.