Legal Profession, Professional Conduct, and Ethics

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, terminology, legal definitions, and professional ethics principles from the course on the Legal Profession and Legal Practice Management in Zambia.

Orators of Ancient Athens

The earliest persons who could be described as lawyers in ancient Greece, who operated under the fiction of being ordinary citizens assisting friends for free because charging fees and formal legal representation were prohibited.

Juriconsults

Specialists trained in law during the Roman Empire who were authorized to represent clients alongside untrained advocates.

Professional Ethics

A code or set of principles by which members of a given profession conduct themselves or are expected to conduct themselves in their dealings with each other and their clients.

Ethics vs. Morality

Ethics refers to external rules and standards provided by an external source (such as a professional body), whereas morality refers to an individual's personal principles regarding right and wrong.

Profession

An occupation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to provide disinterested objective counsel and service to others, as distinguished from a business.

Fiduciary Obligations

Varying restrictions imposed in equity on professional persons acting in a fiduciary capacity, having at their heart a core duty of undivided loyalty to the client.

Deontological School of Thought

A school of thought asserting that a lawyer acts ethically when focusing strictly on principles, rules, and duties regulating the profession, regardless of the consequences.

Consequentialist School of Thought

A school of thought asserting that the ethical nature of a lawyer's actions is determined by whether the consequences produced are good or bad.

Legal Practitioner (Zambia)

Under the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap 30 of the Laws of Zambia, a person who has been admitted to practice as an Advocate under the provisions of the Act and whose name is duly entered on the roll.

Unitary Practice

A legal system in Zambia where an Advocate admitted to the bar can perform the functions of both a Solicitor and a Barrister as split in the United Kingdom.

Client

Under Section 2 of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap 31 of the Laws of Zambia, any person who as a principal, trustee, personal representative, or in any other capacity retains or employs a practitioner, or is liable to pay costs to a practitioner.

Hired Gun

A situation where a lawyer becomes so partisan that he owes undivided duty and allegiance to his client and does whatever it takes to achieve the client's goals, ignoring duties owed to the court, profession, public, and fellow practitioners.

Retainer

The contract by which a client engages a legal practitioner to act on their behalf.

Entire Contract

A retainer contract under which counsel promises to act for the client in a particular matter until its completion, and the client promises to pay for services rendered upon completion.

Attorney's Lien

A legal claim or right a lawyer has to hold onto a client's property, documents, or money until outstanding legal fees and expenses are paid.

Letter of Demand

A mandatory letter sent prior to commencing legal proceedings conveying a client's claim, requesting performance or payment within a reasonable time, and placing a debtor in mora.

Mora

Delay or default in performing a legal obligation, such as the payment of a debt.

Legal Professional Privilege

A legal duty protection attaching to private information and communications obtained by or for a professional legal advisor for the purpose of giving or receiving legal advice regarding actual or contemplated litigation.

Chinese Wall

An institutional arrangement established within a law firm to prevent confidential information known by one partner or employee from becoming available to another handling a matter with conflicting interests.

Wasted Costs Order

An order made by the court requiring an advocate personally to pay unnecessary costs incurred by a party due to improper, unreasonable, or negligent conduct by counsel.

Charging Lien

A type of attorney's lien made against a settlement or judgment a client receives as a result of the lawyer's advice or representation.

Retaining Lien

A type of attorney's lien giving a lawyer the right to retain possession of any money, documents, or property received from a client until compensated for legal services.

Negotiation

A consensual bargaining process involving back-and-forth communication between two or more parties attempting to reach an agreement on a disputed or potentially disputed matter.

Competitive Negotiation Strategy

An aggressive negotiation approach based on the premise that one side's gain is the other side's loss, characterized by high demands, few concessions, and attempts to intimidate the opponent.

Cooperative Negotiation Strategy

A negotiation approach aimed at achieving the best joint outcome through open communication, conciliatory attitude, and willingness to give reasonable mutual concessions.

Mediation

An accessible, voluntary, confidential, and facilitative process where a neutral third party (mediator) helps disputing parties resolve a conflict by facilitating negotiations without imposing a judgment.

Adjudication

A procedure for obtaining a quick (usually within 28 days) and cheap decision on a construction dispute, which is binding until finally resolved by litigation, arbitration, or agreement.

Criminal Contempt

Conduct disrespectful to the court (such as wilful insult or interruption of proceedings) aimed to be punished by a specified sentence, fine, or imprisonment.

Civil Contempt

The failure or refusal to satisfy a court order or undertaking, sanctioned primarily to compel compliance and restore the rights of the wronged party.

Recusal

The act of a judge or magistrate removing themselves from presiding over a case due to personal interest, bias, prejudice, or prior involvement with the matter or parties.

Hart-Fuller Debate

A classic debate in jurisprudence between Professor Hart (a positivist who argued that law has no necessary connection with morality) and Professor Fuller (a naturalist who argued that law must pass a moral test to be valid).

Unprofessional Conduct

Conduct occurring in connection with the practice of law that falls short of the standard of competence and diligence that a member of the public is entitled to expect from a reasonably competent legal practitioner.

Professional Misconduct

Unsatisfactory professional conduct involving a substantial or consistent failure to maintain reasonable standards of competence and diligence, or conduct rendering a practitioner unfit to practice law under Section 52 of the Legal Practitioners Act.