Category: Legal Ethics

Categories
Legal Ethics

Musings on Trust Funds and Ethics

Skyscrapers with Bank logos.

If you are not in that part of the legal business which involves representing Banks on lending matters, you may not know that Banks love trust deposits. They pay a ridiculously low amount of interest on them, and while the firm’s mixed trust account (the “General Trust Account”) requires some managing, it does not take much effort to service the individual interest-bearing investment accounts for specific clients (the “Individual Accounts”). It is good business to have.

On the other hand, law firms like bank lending work. Less now than back in the days when it was more profitable, but still.

read more about about an obscure ethical issue “Musings on Trust Funds and Ethics”
Categories
Legal Ethics

A Parable Dripping With Sarcasm

Yellow banner with black letters saying "Crime Scene. Do not cross."
Photo by Kat Wilcox at Pexels.

Early in my career, one of my clients was the owner of a chain of retail bakeries. One day I attended at one of the stores with the President of the corporation, whose name was Stewart. When we were ready to leave the store, Stewart remembered that he was out of bread, selected a loaf, and paid the employee behind the counter for it.

read more about situational ethics “A Parable Dripping With Sarcasm”
Categories
Legal Ethics

Screwing Up

A screw standing on its head.
Photo by Steve Johnson 9 at Pexels

On a clear summer day, my father carefully drove his car out of his narrow one-car driveway past the retaining walls on either side and onto the street. He then turned to the right and parked the car in front of our house. Or so he thought.

After he exited the car, he found out the hard way that rather than put the car in park, he had actually left it in reverse. The car retraced the path from whence it had come until it crashed into the retaining wall on one side of the driveway.

read more about taking responsibility “Screwing Up”
Categories
Legal Ethics

Murray’s Musings About Character

Person walking uphill in the snow with a backpack.
Photo by Cojanu Alexandru at Pexels.

Once upon a time, there was a lawyer whose practice was reliant on one huge client. His junior associate made a mistake on the client’s file. The client demanded that the lawyer fire the associate. The lawyer refused to cast aside a young associate for having made one mistake. The client fired the lawyer. The lawyer lost his practice. The associate lost his job anyway.

read more about character “Murray’s Musings About Character”
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Legal Ethics

Dancing Close to the Ethical Line

Person walking on the center line of the highway.
Photo by Aleksandr Burzinsk

Since I moved to the country after spending most of my life in the big city, I fashion myself as something of a country type. I drive a pick-up truck and I listen to country music. So, it should come as no surprise that I am drawing inspiration for this story from Johnny Cash who proudly proclaimed that “I Walk the Line.” 

read more about the ethical line “Dancing Close to the Ethical Line”
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Legal Ethics

How To Lose Your License to Practice Law in One Easy Step

Banner saying "Crime Scene Do Not Cross"
Photo by kat wilcox from Pexels

Let me start by saying that I really, really, like accountants. I had deep and valued relationships with a number of accountants when I practiced law, and they were by far my best referral sources. Many became good friends. So, the negative stories which I am about to tell relate to a tiny minority of the accountants who I came across.

read more about unethical professionals “How To Lose Your License to Practice Law in One Easy Step”
Categories
Legal Ethics

Truth In Advertising Part Two

Two men in suits standing over a woman at a computer.
vlada karpovich at Pexels

I have written before about how lawyers are usually fairly good at dealing with their clients in a truthful manner in the course of providing legal services, but not quite as accomplished when it comes to their marketing. Let’s look at this in the context of the most basic element of law firm marketing – how law firms identify their lawyers to the public.

read more about how law firms mislead clients as to who is a real partner “Truth In Advertising Part Two”
Categories
Legal Ethics

Truth In Advertising

Neon signs in London, England.
Image from Pexels, by Negative Space

I expect that “honest” would not be the first word that comes to mind as a general description of the business culture in Canada, or anywhere else for that matter. The idea of “buyer beware” (or “caveat emptor” as we lawyers like to say) is well ingrained in our business culture, and we all expect businesses to create “spin” when they market their goods and services.

read more about bullshit baffles brains “Truth In Advertising”
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Legal Ethics

Time Travel on the HMCS Document

Terraces on the mountainside at Machu Picchu suggesting an earlier time.

I attended my first closing of a commercial transaction when I was an articling student.  It was a rather large share transaction. The closing started around 2 pm and I imagine that the lawyers thought that they would be done by late afternoon.

It was not to be.

read more about the ethics of backdating documents “Time Travel on the HMCS Document”
Categories
Legal Ethics

Ethics Matter, But Don’t Be Naive About It

The author standing on a train track suggesting the danger of walking the ethical line.

In my first year of practice, a client asked me to advise him concerning his plan to build a sign for his restaurant.  The sign was to sit at sidewalk level and would be 6 feet high and 20 feet long with flashing neon lights.  It did not take long for me to determine that the sign would contravene the city’s by-laws and to tell him not to do it.

The client was furious with me.  He angrily explained to me that it was not my job to give him business advice.  In his mind, my role as the lawyer was simply to tell him what the law said and what the penalties were for breaking the law.  It was his job to make the determination whether it was a good business decision to break the law.  

That was my introduction to business ethics and how the practice of law fits in.

read more about determining where the ethical line is “Ethics Matter, But Don’t Be Naive About It”