The mission of the attorney disciplinary system is to protect clients, the public and courts from attorney misconduct. We do this mainly by restricting the ability to practice of lawyers found to have committed serious misconduct, through the imposition of probation, suspensions, and disbarment and by warning lawyers who have committed lesser misconduct, through reprimands, admonitions, and letters of concern. Lately, we have undertaken educational efforts to assist lawyers in improving their practices and avoiding error, thereby ̶ we hope ̶ benefitting everyone.
One of our recent initiatives has been to address law school professional responsibility classes throughout the Commonwealth about the disciplinary system and the ethical obligations the students will face once they are admitted to practice. Over the past six months, the two of us have made joint presentations to four law schools.
Our presentations cover a range of topics. We describe the workings of the disciplinary system, and the other devices that regulate lawyer conduct, such as malpractice insurer requirements, professional association formal opinions, and court rulings on conflicts, frivolous pleadings, and attorney misconduct. We discuss what it means for the profession to be “self-regulating”: Lawyers are afforded considerable discretion to act reasonably and honestly but aggressively to advance their clients’ interests free from excessive government oversight. On the other hand, we emphasize the need for new lawyers to seek help when they confront ethical questions and challenges and to cooperate with our regulatory process.
The students have been well-taught about the Rules of Professional Conduct. They also, however, show understanding and interest about some of the ethical challenges they will face: how to run a practice, how to advance clients’ rights and causes while showing due respect to the courts and adversaries, and how to respond to misbehavior by other lawyers. We’ve received several questions, insightful and touching, about how to help colleagues with mental health and substance problems. Unfortunately, this is no surprise. Our colleagues at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers tell us that more than twenty-five percent of their clients are law students.
We also talk to the students about the joys of practicing law. Yes, it can be stressful, and it is always challenging. But lawyers help people. The profession allows us to do that with an independence and efficacy that few other professionals enjoy these days. Both of us, we tell the students, have confronted challenging issues of right and wrong, justice and injustice, nearly every day of our combined seventy years of practice. Meeting those challenges and solving them bring a sense of achievement that we try to convey to the students.
Our experience has filled us with optimism about the coming generation of lawyers, and we intend to continue this outreach program. We’ve extended the invitation to all the law schools in the Commonwealth.