TLIE Top Tip: Lawyers are Guardians
TLIE Top TipsDid you know that all lawyers are “guardians?” The Preamble to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct declares lawyers to be “guardians of the law” with “a vital role in the preservation of society.” Professor Leah Witcher Jackson Teague refers to lawyers as “a small assembly of skilled professionals who accept our calling as a special duty to protect our democracy and serve the public.”
How do we guard the law and help preserve society? The Preamble instructs lawyers to:
- Understand our relationship with and function in the legal system;
- Maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct;
- Zealously pursue clients’ interests;
- Be competent, prompt, and diligent;
- Keep confidences;
- Conform personal and professional conduct to the requirements of the law;
- Seek to improve the law itself and the administration of justice;
- Provide public interest legal service;
- Use the rules of professional conduct as a guide to resolve conflicting professional responsibilities; and
- Assure the self-regulation of the profession is in the public’s interest.
As we fulfill our guardian role, the rules of professional conduct are our ethical guide. Our success is measured by the respect and confidence earned; our failure judged by the respect and confidence lost. Let’s follow Aristotle’s admonition cited by Professor Teague to “serve others and do good.”
