Legal Ethics

In a word, legal ethics education is education aimed at cultivating this capacity for judgment. How to foster such judgment is one of the theoretical pillars of this book. If this book can be applied to the realities of legal society and help continuously cultivate legal professionals who can realize the ideal of a "judiciary for the people," this would be the greatest source of joy for us, the authors and all those involved.

Author's Preface

The second edition of the Japanese legal ethics textbook, *Legal Ethics*, has been translated into a Chinese edition through the efforts of committed individuals in Taiwan, becoming a volume in the "Legal Ethics Series" published by the Judicial Reform Foundation. The original Japanese edition was published just in April of this year (2011) by Nagoya University Press. To have it read and applied by so many legal professionals and students in such a short period of time is a great honor as one of the authors. It is our hope that this book will serve as a teaching material for professional legal ethics training and as a textbook for students aspiring to join the legal profession, thereby contributing to guiding the public's trust in the judicial system while also playing an important role in international friendly exchanges.

For the judicial system to gain the trust of the citizens, it must not only be complete in legislation and institutions, but the personnel shouldering the operation of the judiciary must also maintain high standards and continuously strive for excellence in both practical and ethical dimensions based on their status as professionals. Therefore, it is necessary to enrich the training and cultivation systems for legal professionals.

Although people generally recognize the importance of practical education and practical training, some may think that professional ethics for legal professionals can naturally be implemented once judges and prosecutors obtain security of tenure and lawyers secure a stable economic foundation. However, reality is by no means the case. This is due to the unique nature of legal professional ethics—particularly regarding lawyers' duty of confidentiality and conflicts of interest—which involves many subtle and complex theoretical questions. To implement legal ethics, it is necessary on the one hand to examine the raison d'être of legal professionals and clarify the roles of judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel, and on the other hand to correctly grasp how the theories derived from such examination apply to social and legal realities as well as the interests among related parties. Only through these complementary efforts can theory be steadily applied to concrete cases.

In a word, legal ethics education is education aimed at cultivating this capacity for judgment. How to foster such judgment is one of the theoretical pillars of this book. If this book can be applied to the realities of legal society and help continuously cultivate legal professionals who can realize the ideal of a "judiciary for the people," this would be the greatest source of joy for us, the authors and all those involved.

Speaking of those involved, as this book is translated and published in Taiwan, allow me to express my gratitude to two individuals: Attorney Liu Chih-pêng (Formosa Transnational Attorneys-at-Law), Managing Director of the Judicial Reform Foundation and member of the Legal Ethics Center, who provided tremendous help with translation and proofreading, and Attorney Huang Jui-ming (Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law), former Chairperson and current Director of the Center. Secondly, without the discerning vision of those associated with Soochow University School of Law and the strenuous efforts of the various translators, this Taiwanese translation of the book would not have had the fortune of appearing before you all; for this, I wish to express my gratitude. Finally, the author also expresses heartfelt thanks to Taiwan's Shin-Hsin Publishing House for publishing this book, Nagoya University Press for readily granting translation authorization and assistance, and the team at the Graduate School of Law of Nagoya University, led by Lin Mei-fêng, for providing all-around assistance.

Table of Contents

Introduction

 

Part I

Principles of Attorney Ethics

Part II

Practice of Attorney Ethics

Part III

Professional Responsibilities of Attorneys

Part IV

Professional Responsibilities of Judges and Prosecutors

Appendix

 

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