Morality

I haven't really been living up to the title of my Blog; there has been too little philosophy.

Today I will address that with an ongoing feature I will add to the Name of the Week: Philosophical Question to Ponder this week.


So, Philosophical Question to Ponder this Week:

What constitutes morality to you? What is Moral? What is immoral? What is amoral?

If I have a client, whom I know is guilty, and, through no action of my own, I have that client's case dismissed, have I acted Morally?

What about if I actively exploit legal "loopholes" for that client, but do nothing to violate my attorney ethics? (eg: I have the indictment quashed for failure to properly cite the Code?)

This happened to me this week: My client told me he did it, but the prosecuting witness didn't show up, so the Judge threw the case out. Was I acting morally, immorally or amorally?

As an Attorney I have a duty to not make these Moral decisions for my clients. I am REQUIRED to exploit every legal loophole for my client- short of making misrepresentation to the Court or another lawyer. In other words, if the indictment is prepared wrong, I have to exploit that even if I know the underlying claim is valid, unless my client declines to pursue it and then I had better get that decision in writing in case s/he changes his or her mind.

In the Courtroom, it is the Judge's job to Judge, not mine and I must refrain from making Moral Judgments with regards to my clients...But sometimes this just feels wrong.

I draw the line pretty far in, because that's what makes me happy, but I also tell my clients this upfront and suggest they get another lawyer if they want to deceive, connive, be sneaky, or stick it to the other on principle. I do occasionally make exceptions for "principle" so long as I feel comfortable with the principle being pursued.

There is a country song with the lyric: "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything. You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string."

Whatever you decide about your moral decision making parameters is your decision but you need to spend some time thinking about it.

When the cashier gives you too much change will you return it or keep it?

Do you merely want to keep from harming others or do you want to actively do right by others?

Just because something is illegal is it necessarily immoral? (I had to make this sexy!) For example, all oral sexual contact, even between consenting married adults, is illegal in the State of Alabama. Its called Sodomy.

****He he heh he. She said Sodomy. (Bevis and Butthead music) 'breakin' the law, 'breakin' the law!!!******