Professional Ethics and the Business World

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that no professionals are more maligned for being unethical than attorneys, yet attorneys are one of the few professions that have adopted and adhere to a strict code of professional ethics, the violation of which can result in the end of a career and other severe sanctions. The writer points out that in the United States, each state has its own rules of ethics for attorneys, however, the majority of estates have adopted rules that outline affirmative duties that an attorney owes to a client, in addition to listing proscribed behavior. The writer then discusses that one of the most dramatic cases of attorney ethical violations is the recent attempt by Durham, North Carolina Assistant District Attorney Mike Nifong to prosecute several members of the Duke Lacrosse team for the rape of Crystal Gail Mangum. Unfortunately, the complaining witness lied about the events that served as the basis for the charges. The writer maintains that from the beginning of the case, Nifong acted in an unethical manner, because he pursued a conviction, rather than justice. The writer concludes that while it may be easy to understand Nifong's initial position, how he acted when he had to have known that the complainant was lying, is simply inexplicable. There is no scenario under which the continued prosecution of clearly innocent people is permissible.

From the Paper:

"In hindsight, Nifong's behavior was clearly unethical. However, it is far too simplistic to dismiss Nifong as a power-hungry prosecutor with a disregard for justice and truth that borders on the evil. To do so is a tremendous mistake, because it ignores some of the realities that prosecutors face every day. First, the complaining witness was a stripper. Sex workers are disproportionately likely to be victims of sexual assaults, and their status as sex workers immediately makes them appear less credible than other sexual assault complainants. Therefore, conscientious prosecutors, police officers, and rape crises workers are trained to respond to initial sexual assault reports as if they are true and credible. In addition, many sexual assault victims change the details of what occurred during the attacks, oftentimes omitting the most humiliating and degrading aspects of an assault until they have become more comfortable with investigators. In fact, there is a strong psychological basis for the notion that many sexual assault victims may actually repress details of their assaults in order to cope with the after-effects."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Bar Association. "Model Rules of Professional Conduct: 2007 Edition."
• ABANET.ORG. 2007. American Bar Association. 9 Nov. 2007 <http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/home.html>.
• Askew, Kim. "Practicing Law 101." Texas Bar Journal. 70.10 (2007): 854-857.
• Marshall, Jack. "Ethics Train Wreck: District Attorney Nifong and the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case." Ethics Scoreboard. 2007. ProEthics, Ltd. 9 Nov. 2007 <http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/list/nifong.html>.
• Neff, Joseph. "Rush to Judgment: Quest to Convict Hid a Lack of Evidence."

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