Legal Ethics

Remaining ethical in a career of law and finance is nearly essential, yet seldom present. In the pursuit of income or success, many people involve themselves in increasingly less legal or ethical business practices. This blog is not a criticism of modern-day business practices- just a guide on how to stay ethical and humane and what ethics are. What is important is that ethics is a very abstract idea. Ethics is essentially the study of right and wrong, which does not remain the same from person to person. An open mind is necessary when both reading this blog and learning about ethics as a whole.

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Ethics is the philosophical study of what is morally right and wrong. Any normal person understands that no action fits the binary system of one or the other. An action may be right but done at the wrong time, therefore making it wrong, vice versa. Ethics also remain consistent between relations. An action does not suddenly become ethical because you entered a professional environment over a casual one. A few basic concepts of the study of ethics are deontology, consequentialism, and utilitarianism. 

Deontology is the ethical study that focuses on rules, such as not harming others, because it is morally wrong. Consequentialism looks at how an action may have a rippling effect and judges the action based of it affect. This might look like how not putting out a campfire may seem fine alone, but its effect of creating a larger forest fire is extremely consequential. Finally, utilitarianism is the aim to be and create as much good as possible. While there are several more types of ethics, these allow a strong understanding of the concept.

Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute explains legal ethics as a responsibility that legal system members have to uphold in society. For lawyers, this looks more like confidentiality and moral and societal norms that might not be necessarily legal, but are required by ethical standards. The first type of ethical guidelines for law professionals is professional responsibility. These are usually put in place by the state of practice but usually contain rules regarding confidentiality, malpractice, conflict of interest, and more. Looking at legal work ethics from a different, broader lens. From a purely ethical standpoint, a law professor should do all they can to protect and represent their client; there is no law that states they must do so. When a client comes to a law professional, they entrust them to protect them. Breaking such trust would be widely considered unethical.

It is important to consider that ethics often has a religious aspect connect towards them. Religion is the driving force of ethics, for if there is no God, or rather no ultimate judge, nothing is really wrong. When we are born, we come into this world with a standard package of what is ethical and not. We know it is wrong to hurt another, but we, or rather children, ignore it. The very idea that humans can differentiate between right and wrong means there has to be something that allows for that. So when you act, professional or not, remain diligent about whether what you're doing or deciding not to do aligns with ethics.

“legal ethics.”Cornell Law School, March 2023, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/legal_ethics.

“Ethical: A Deep Dive into Right and Wrong.” Nobl CE, Accessed 24 June 2026, https://www.noblece.com/Learning-Center/ethical-a-deep-dive-into-right-and-wrong.cfm.