How clean is your conscience?
As solicitors, we are all aware of the importance of acting as upstanding, law-abiding members of the community and in a way that maintains public trust in the profession. This is something that is drilled into us at law school when we learn about the SRA Principles and Codes of Conduct, and which should not be taken lightly. Judging by several recently reported SRA and SDT decisions, the pervasive nature of this responsibility i.e. that it applies across all areas of your life and continues beyond the end of the working day, does not appear to have hit home, for some at least!
Take the case of the solicitor struck off for using his relative’s Blue Badge at least eight times for his own purposes, who submitted in his defence that the offence was unrelated to his professional work and that he had made a ‘stupid mistake’ but nothing more than that. In response, the SDT said it saw no distinction between the concepts of deception and dishonesty and his conduct would be considered to be dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people.
Consider also the case of the solicitor issued with a written rebuke by the SRA and ordered to pay £600 costs for sending inappropriate messages to a WhatsApp group. The comments were said to be offensive and derogatory about certain groups of individuals which amounted to a breach of the SRA Principle which requires solicitors to act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the profession.
Edward Nally, president of the SDT summed it up well when he said “I don’t think that a solicitor has the luxury of leaving their practising certificate on the shelf and behaving with complete impunity in their life generally. There is a responsibility whether you like it or not.”
The “whether you like it or not” part is pertinent in that it reminds us that by deciding to join the profession, we take on this responsibility and need to have it at the forefront of our minds as we go about our everyday lives.
Let us also not forget that managers within firms also have responsibility for ensuring that non-solicitors act ethically and in line with the SRA Principles, therefore there are wider considerations in terms of how all law firm employees behave, both in and out of work.
It also interesting that Nally has raised the issue of mental health and the importance that new recruits to the SDT have an appreciation of developing and recurring themes such as stress, anxiety and depression, since these issues can inevitably impact on the exercise of poor judgment. As he points out however, “mental health issues are not a free pass for misconduct.”
All of this got me thinking of my younger years as a Brownie when we were required to say the Brownie Guide Promise, ‘I promise that I will do my best….and help other people and to keep the Brownie Guide Law.’ A slightly outlandish suggestion but it may serve a useful purpose if solicitors were required to join together within their firms each day to say a pledge or affirmation that reminds them of their duties to act honestly and with integrity to really reinforce the importance of acting in a way that is befitting of their status on a daily basis.
Whilst it may be difficult to obtain buy-in to this idea, the moral of the story is, if you are considering acting irresponsibly, stop and consider whether such behaviour would be considered appropriate by the standards of ordinary decent people and whether it is worth risking your professional reputation and livelihood and having the regulator knocking on your door over an ill thought through act or endeavour? I anticipate that the answer is likely to be a resounding “no” so take heed and proceed with a clean conscience!
