Ethics Shmethics

Tomorrow, thousands of law students and I will be taking the ethics exam. I think the fact that we have to take an ethics course and test only perpetuates the stereotype that those in the field are inherently unethical.

Moreover, I feel like the more I study the less ethical I become. I did well on my first practice test, declined on my second and third, and fortunately rebounded a little on the fourth. I think my problem is that I am trying to remember all these weird exceptions instead of doing what a normal, ethical person would naturally do.

But I guess I have learned some valuable tidbits. For example . . .

If you get arrested for soliciting sexual acts from an undercover police
officer who you thought was a prostite, you are probably not subject to
discipline by the bar because your criminal conduct does not show dishonesty,
untrustworthiness, or unfitness to practice law.

You cannot begin to have sexual relations after someone becomes your
client, but you can represent someone with whom you have already had sexual
relations with.

Posturing and puffery (my new favorite word) are allowed during negotiations; lying about material facts or
law is not.

I wonder what this says about my future profession. Now if only all professions had to learn ethics and take a test.

Picture borrowed from limitededition68.wordpress.com