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DTSTAMP:20260407T111746Z
DTSTART:20221103T201500Z
DTEND:20221103T213000Z
SUMMARY:Do ‘bad’ clients deserve ‘good’ lawyers?
DESCRIPTION:The legal profession is under attack. Every day\, new accusat
 ions of enabling criminal and unethical activity emerge\, and calls to e
 nd self-regulation grow ever louder.\n\nWhat are we to do about this?\n\
 nSo far\, the profession’s response has been mixed\, and even contradict
 ory. Criminal lawyers rightly point out that it is their corporate count
 erparts who are the targets of most criticisms\, risking a dangerous div
 ision of the profession. Others argue that even acknowledging the validi
 ty of some of these attacks will have catastrophic results\, and risks o
 pening the Pandora’s Box of lawyers becoming associated with the interes
 ts of their clients. ‘Lawyers are politically and ethically neutral figu
 res\, and should be permitted to advise their clients on any course of a
 ction so long as it is legal’ is the standard reply\, but is this true?\
 n\nHow unfair are the criticisms being levelled at the profession? Is it
  not already heavily divided? Do the profession’s core principles even a
 pply to corporate lawyers anymore? And if corporate lawyers have become 
 businessmen first\, and legal professionals second\, what does this mean
  in a world where big business is being increasingly regulated along eth
 ical lines? Events are already pushing the profession in a certain direc
 tion\, regardless of how much we might object: law firms have traditiona
 lly been reluctant to draw ethical lines in the sand\, yet recent events
  in Russia and Ukraine have forced many firms to start taking an ethical
  stance where they might not have previously.\n\nYet is the formal ethic
 al regulation of lawyers actually possible when our profession is founde
 d on the certainty of statute\, reasoned judicial precedent\, and indepe
 ndent regulation? Are those trying to adapt the law to ever-changing eth
 ical standards simply giving in to cancel culture and mob rule? Or are t
 hey simply acknowledging the reality of the new world of social activism
  in which business\, law\, and all of us now operate\, one which we igno
 re at our peril?\n\nThis session will attempt to tackle some of these th
 orny issues and marks the formal start of the IBA’s broader engagement w
 ith its members on these vital questions.
LOCATION:Room 206\, Level 2
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