Ethics: It’s all Greek to a lawyer

The Intellectual Property Department (IPD) of our Firm recently organized the monthly in-house seminar on the topic Legal Ethics. We invited as our guest lecturer Dean Pacifico Agabin, a former Dean of the UP College of Law and now Dean of the Lyceum College of Law.

To make the seminar interesting, I asked lawyers from my department for suggestions. A senior Associate, Atty. JP Gaba, suggested that we recreate the ruined columns in Athens as a backdrop for the seminar and that we adopt "Ancient Greece" as a theme for the seminar.

I readily agreed to his proposal knowing that it was in ancient Greece where most of early western philosophy and ideas were developed. Among these is the study of Ethics. The word Ethics in fact came from the Greek word ethos, meaning "character."

In Ancient Greece, the study of Ethics was said to be a natural result of man’s longing for happiness. This longing is inherent in every human heart coupled with the yearning for the truth and the good.

The pursuit of the truth and the good proper to man is enshrined in the Greek Ethos, the knowledge of the first principles of right and wrong in relation to human acts. Greek thinkers, particularly Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, were of the view that all human activities are subject to ethical evaluations insofar as they are free and conscious.

Ethics is based on the belief that man has the intellect and the free will to behave in a certain way. It imposes a certain order to human acts. Thus, ethics can make a person virtuous, and the absence of ethics may lead a person to vice. In effect, we can say that the greatness of a civilization is measured by the way people develop and practice ethics.

As early as the 6th century B.C., Aristotle has written that submitting one’s emotion or passion under the control of his intellect and will is a mark of a civilized person.

Moreover, Aristotle’s book "Nichomachean Ethics," which provides wisdom on the ethical evaluation of human acts, has served as one of the foundations in the building of human civilization. And an inherent part of the building of human civilization is the practice of a profession, whether in economics, politics, medicine, arts, education or law.

The practice of a profession, such as Law, is a free and intelligent human activity. It is, therefore, subject to ethical evaluation.

Admittedly, there are complaints and strong prejudices against lawyers since ancient times. Plato warned against a community in which lawyers abound. Shakespeare attributed this statement to one character in "King Henry VI": "The first thing we do, let us kill all the lawyers!"

While the complaints may or may not be justified, the legal profession developed a Code of Professional Responsibility precisely to express their standards for professional conduct. It enumerates the duties and responsibilities of a lawyer to society, the legal profession, the Courts and the clients.

To illustrate, Canon 3 of the Code states that lawyers shall use only "true, honest, fair" statement of facts in rendering legal services. Under Canon 13, he shall rely upon the merits of his cause and refrain from any acts of impropriety that tends to influence the Court. Under Canon 15, a lawyer shall observe candor, fairness and loyalty in all his dealings with his client. Canon 7 states that a lawyer must uphold the dignity of the legal profession at all time.

In Law, as in all professions, the fundamental question to ask is: "Is it right or is it wrong?" As distinguished from "Is it legal or is it unlawful?" What is legal may not necessarily be correct or good, as we see more often in these times.

Even assuming we want to act rightly or wrongly, we will continue to ask – "according to whom and according to what?" Fortunately, the lawyers have a Code that provides the criteria of what is ethical.

Dean Agabin delivered an excellent lecture on Legal Ethics. Of course, he did not dwell on the ideas of Socrates, Aristotle or Plato. His lecture focused on recent jurisprudence on the subject.

In any case, and notwithstanding being enlightened by Dean Agabin, Ethics will remain Greek to a lawyer like this writer. Thanks to Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, and the Nichomachean Ethics, among others.

(Alex Ferdinand S. Fider is a Partner of ACCRALAW. He obtained his LLB from the University of the Philippines College of Law [1986] and LLM from Queen Mary College-University of London [1990]. He can be contacted thru tel. 830-8000 and email address [email protected])