Ethics can be defined as the beliefs, attitudes and ideologies that have an impact on the decisions that people make. It has been said to be doing the right thing for that particular situation. For Solicitors, ethics is especially important because it is a significant part of making sure justice is being carried out. Generally, if solicitors are seen to be acting ethically, it is seen as the solicitor acting in the broader interest of the society and this way the public’s trust increases. We can say it’s essential for solicitors to conduct themselves in an ethical manner because it improves the reliability and trustworthiness of relationships. If solicitors do not follow and promote ethical principles then consequentially law may be disregarded …show more content…
They are expected to go by certain principles such as the rule of law and because of the rule of law’s principles which are based on fairness, equity and justice, if the public is dissatisfied, it would mean the rule of law is failing . However we cannot decide whether solicitors are being ethical by the public’s discontent because everyone’s view of what is ethical is different. Furthermore the importance of why solicitors have to act ethical is emphasised in the Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’) Code of Conduct. The SRA acts as guidelines for solicitors to follow, it includes aspects such as to uphold the rule of law and proper administration of justice and to act in the best interests of each client . This code of conduct illustrates the simple fact that for a solicitor to perform their duty properly, they would need to be ethical and …show more content…
Integrity has been defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Lord Macmillan identified the essential characteristics of an advocate which included honesty and sincerity . Integrity has been said to go hand in hand with ethics because they are both required by the legal profession in order to be equitable and come to the right decision. According to the Bolton v Law Society, solicitors are expected to “discharge their professional duties with integrity and complete trustworthiness.” So equally we can say it is important for solicitors to act with integrity because it reassures the client and it makes them more trustworthy. The public is encouraged to have expectations that solicitors will act with integrity in order to maintain justice and fairness and because of this, the public is more likely to want to work with solicitors rather than choosing to take matters into their own hands. As stated in Virdee v The Law Society; “The public is entitled to expect that solicitors will act with the utmost integrity at all times.” On the word of Lord Hunt of Wirral “The combination of ingrained integrity and ethical beliefs unites the entire legal profession” .The mixture of both integrity and ethics gives not only a structure to the legal system but it encourages and gives the public confidence in the solicitors that they work with. Both ethics and integrity reinforce and strengthen each