Contrasting the Vision and the Reality: Core Ethical Values, Ethics Audit and Ethics Decision Models for Attorneys

Abstract

The point of this piece is to help lawyers understand, manage, and cope with both the moral and ethical demands of lawyering, as well as their career dissatisfaction with the practice in general. This paper does not simply use the various ethics rules to deal with such issues, but rather integrates psychological principles to help explain and manage career dissatisfaction among practitioners, and ethical and moral constructs to produce workable ethics solutions for practitioners. To that end, this paper will first discuss the six most common areas where lawyers experience conflicting expectations within the practice of law. Second, this article will search for solutions to enhance lawyer morality and career satisfaction. Finally, the article will provide a workable ethics decision model and ethics audit, which seeks to help lawyers work through ethical and career frustrations.