legal ethics research paper

Researching Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility

Researching legal ethics and professional responsibility involves looking at rules (model and state specific), cases (that can cover criminal law, malpractice, disciplinary appeal, and more), and ethics opinions. Legal ethics involve both mandatory rules and aspirational goals.

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Legal Ethics

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Journal overview

Aims and scope

Legal Ethics is an international and interdisciplinary journal devoted to the field of legal ethics.

Its focus is broad enough to encompass empirical research on the ethics and conduct of the legal professions and judiciary, studies of legal ethics education and moral development, ethics development in contemporary professional practice, the ethical responsibilities of law schools, professional bodies and government, and jurisprudential or wider philosophical reflections on law as an ethical system and on the moral obligations of individual lawyers.

Peer Review Policy: All articles are double blind peer-reviewed.

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.

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Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Research

Practice guides & other secondary sources, paper topic ideas & recent ethics developments, california rules of professional conduct, aba model rules of professional conduct.

Director of the Law Library & Assistant Professor of Law

These sources give overviews of the law of professional responsibility and cite to primary materials, such as major statutes, rules, and cases.

Browse or search these sources to get an idea of the most controversial or widely-discussed legal ethics issues.

The State Bar of California has Rules of Professional Conduct and related rules, statutes and other materials on its web site.

Annotated Rules of Professional Conduct are included in West's and Deering's annotated California codes in print and online.

[On May 10, 2018, the California Supreme Court approved new Rules of Professional Conduct. The new rules went into effect on Nov. 2, 2018. The State Bar's site has the new rules. Some of the other sites and sources below may continue to display the prior Rules of Professional Conduct for a time.]

Here are some sources for the ABA Model Rules (with comments), as well as some additional materials with helpful information on the Model Rules.

Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law

Journal of the Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics

Current volume: volume 2 (1999).

Corporate Law Firms and Corporate Ethics Ralph Nader

Partners without Power - A Preliminary Look at Black Partners in Corporate Law Firms David B. Wilkins

Access to the Legal Profession for Minorities: Introductory Remarks Dennis Chin

The Adversary Process is Not an End in Itself Lloyd L. Weinreb

Some Thoughts on the Differences in Criminal Trials in the Civil and Common Law Legal Systems Mary C. Daly

Questions and Answers on Lloyd Weinreb's and Mary Daly's Articles

Informal Remarks on Professionalism Burnele V. Powell

Professionalism Anthony T. Kronman

Pragmatic Professionalism: An Exercise in Applied Ethics Amy R. Mashburn

Comments on Professionalism John M. Walker Jr.

The Case against Secret Settlements (Or, What You Don't Know Can Hurt You) Richard A. Zitrin

Limiting Secret Settlements by Law David Luban

Can a Good Lawyer Be a Bad Person Stephen Gillers

The Good Person Question: Valid Query or Hobson's Choice Raymond M. Brown

Lawyer Disclosure to Prevent Death or Bodily Injury: A New Look at Spaulding v. Zimmerman Roger C. Cramton

Reflections on Confidentiality - A Practitioner's Response to Spaulding v. Zimmerman Carol M. Langford

Rationing Justice - What Thomas More Would Say Michael E. Tigar

Effective Assistance: Reconceiving the Role of the Chief Public Defender Kim Taylor-Thompson

Innovative Legal Billing, Alternatives to Billable Hours and Ethical Hurdles Ronald D. Rotunda

Plaintiffs' Class Action Attorneys Earn What They Get Patricia M. Hynes

Plaintiffs' Attorneys' Fees in Class Action Litigation: An Ethical Solution David M. Young

Access to What Stephen L. Pepper

The Lawful and the Just: Moral Implications of Unequal Access to Legal Services Kathleen Clark

Corporate-Family Conflicts Charles W. Wolfram

Conflicts in the Corporate Family: Professor Wolfram Has It Almost Right Lawrence J. Fox

After Legal Aid is Abolished Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

Comments on After Legal Aid is Abolished Frank Rosiny

When is a Social Worker as Well as a Lawyer Needed Jack B. Weinstein

Should the Government Fund Legal Services - If So, What Should the Lawyers Do Jonathan A. Weiss

Response to Should the Government Fund Legal Services - If So, What Should the Lawyers Do Michael Horowitz

Informal Debate between Michael Horowitz and Jonathan A. Weiss on Funding Legal Services Michael Horowitz and Jonathan A. Weiss

An Informal Discussion on Legal Ethics Charles W. Wolfram, Ronald D. Rotunda, Burnele V. Powell, Carol M. Langford, and Roy Simon

About the Authors and Contributors

Legal Ethics: Access to Justice Selected Bibliography

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Georgetown Law

Georgetown journal of legal ethics, recent articles, the funny business, evelyn hudson, spring 2022.

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Subjective Feeling or Objective Standard? The Misuse of the Word "Repugnant" in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Vanessa a. kubota, spring 2022.

The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics was founded in 1987 by Father Robert Drinan.

Before joining the faculty of Georgetown Law, Father Drinan served in the U.S. House of Representatives for ten years on behalf of the 4th District of Massachusetts. He dedicated his career to many human rights interests and legal causes, including the elevation of the stature of legal ethics as a discipline and in practice. Father Drinan passed away in January 2007.

Now, in our thirty-third year, The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics continues to honor Father Drinan’s vision for the legal profession. The Journal, through its four annual issues and featured symposia, aspires to serve as the main forum for the discussion and development of the most compelling and pertinent issues currently affecting both the Bench and the Bar.

As a law journal, we seek to exemplify the mission and mandate of the legal profession articulated in Canon 32 of the Canons of Professional Ethics which was approved by the American Bar Association in 1908. Canon 32 states that the lawyer “advances the honor of his profession and the best interest of his client when he renders service or gives advice tending to impress upon the client and his undertaking exact compliance with the strictest principles of moral law….”

The Journal has also broadened its vision to invite interdisciplinary scholarship and writing related to the future of the legal profession.

The Journal strives to publish cutting edge articles on ethical issues, facilitate symposia that include legal scholars, attorneys from diverse practice areas, judges, and social scientists.

The Journal has a steadfast commitment to community service, which is a requirement for all staff and editors. Our mission is intended to honor and perpetuate Father Drinan’s legacy of a call to practice a higher code of conduct.

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Legal and ethical issues in research

1 Department of Women's Anaesthesia, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Bukit Timah, Singapore

Nian-Lin Reena Han

2 Division of Clinical Support Services, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Bukit Timah, Singapore

Ban Leong Sng

3 Anesthesiology and Perioperative Sciences Academic Clinical Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore

Legal and ethical issues form an important component of modern research, related to the subject and researcher. This article seeks to briefly review the various international guidelines and regulations that exist on issues related to informed consent, confidentiality, providing incentives and various forms of research misconduct. Relevant original publications (The Declaration of Helsinki, Belmont Report, Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences/World Health Organisation International Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects, World Association of Medical Editors Recommendations on Publication Ethics Policies, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, CoSE White Paper, International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use-Good Clinical Practice) form the literature that are relevant to the ethical and legal aspects of conducting research that researchers should abide by when conducting translational and clinical research. Researchers should note the major international guidelines and regional differences in legislation. Hence, specific ethical advice should be sought at local Ethics Review Committees.

INTRODUCTION

The ethical and legal issues relating to the conduct of clinical research involving human participants had raised the concerns of policy makers, lawyers, scientists and clinicians for many years. The Declaration of Helsinki established ethical principles applied to clinical research involving human participants. The purpose of a clinical research is to systematically collect and analyse data from which conclusions are drawn, that may be generalisable, so as to improve the clinical practice and benefit patients in future. Therefore, it is important to be familiar with Good Clinical Practice (GCP), an international quality standard that is provided by the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH),[ 1 ] or the local version, GCP of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (India's equivalent of US Food and Drug Administration)[ 2 ] and local regulatory policy to ensure that the research is conducted both ethically and legally. In this article, we will briefly review the legal and ethical issues pertaining to recruitment of human subjects, basic principles of informed consent and precautions to be taken during data and clinical research publications. Some of the core principles of GCP in research include defining responsibilities of sponsors, investigators, consent process monitoring and auditing procedures and protection of human subjects.[ 3 ]

ISSUES RELATED TO THE RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS

The main role of human participants in research is to serve as sources of data. Researchers have a duty to ‘protect the life, health, dignity, integrity, right to self-determination, privacy and confidentiality of personal information of research subjects’.[ 4 ] The Belmont Report also provides an analytical framework for evaluating research using three ethical principles:[ 5 ]

Mistreatment of research subjects is considered research misconduct (no ethical review approval, failure to follow approved protocol, absent or inadequate informed consent, exposure of subjects to physical or psychological harm, exposure of subjects to harm due to unacceptable research practices or failure to maintain confidentiality).[ 6 ] There is also scientific misconduct involving fraud and deception.

Consent, possibility of causing harm

Based on ICH definition, ‘informed consent is a process by which a subject voluntarily confirms his or her willingness to participate in a particular trial, after having been informed of all aspects of the trial that are relevant to the subject's decision to participate’. As for a standard (therapeutic) intervention that carries certain risks, informed consent – that is voluntary, given freely and adequately informed – must be sought from participants. However, due to the research-centred, rather than patient-centred primary purpose, additional relevant information must be provided in clinical trials or research studies in informed consent form. The essential components of informed consent are listed in Table 1 [Adapted from ICH Harmonised Tripartite Guideline, Guideline for Good Clinical Practice E6(R1)].[ 1 ] This information should be delivered in the language and method that individual potential subjects can understand,[ 4 ] commonly in the form of a printed Participant Information Sheet. Informed consent is documented by means of written, signed and dated informed consent form.[ 1 ] The potential subjects must be informed of the right to refuse to participate or withdraw consent to participate at any time without reprisal and without affecting the patient–physician relationship. There are also general principles regarding risk assessment, scientific requirements, research protocols and registration, function of ethics committees, use of placebo, post-trial provisions and research publication.[ 4 ]

Essential components of an informed consent

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Special populations

Informed consent may be sought from a legally authorised representative if a potential research subject is incapable of giving informed consent[ 4 ] (children, intellectual impairment). The involvement of such populations must fulfil the requirement that they stand to benefit from the research outcome.[ 4 ] The ‘legally authorised representative’ may be a spouse, close relative, parent, power of attorney or legally appointed guardian. The hierarchy of priority of the representative may be different between different countries and different regions within the same country; hence, local guidelines should be consulted.

Special case: Emergency research

Emergency research studies occur where potential subjects are incapacitated and unable to give informed consent (acute head trauma, cardiac arrest). The Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences/World Health Organisation guidelines and Declaration of Helsinki make exceptions to the requirement for informed consent in these situations.[ 4 , 7 ] There are minor variations in laws governing the extent to which the exceptions apply.[ 8 ]

Reasonable efforts should have been made to find a legal authority to consent. If there is not enough time, an ‘exception to informed consent’ may allow the subject to be enrolled with prior approval of an ethical committee.[ 7 ] Researchers must obtain deferred informed consent as soon as possible from the subject (when regains capacity), or their legally authorised representative, for continued participation.[ 4 , 7 ]

Collecting patient information and sensitive personal information, confidentiality maintenance

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has requirements for informed consent disclosure and standards for electronic exchange, privacy and information security. In the UK, generic legislation is found in the Data Protection Act.[ 9 ]

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations suggest that authors must ensure that non-essential identifying information (names, initials, hospital record numbers) are omitted during data collection and storage wherever possible. Where identifying information is essential for scientific purposes (clinical photographs), written informed consent must be obtained and the patient must be shown the manuscript before publication. Subjects should also be informed if any potential identifiable material might be available through media access.

Providing incentives

Cash or other benefits ‘in-kind’ (financial, medical, educational, community benefits) should be made known to subjects when obtaining informed consent without emphasising too much on it.[ 7 ] Benefits may serve as appreciation or compensation for time and effort but should not result in the inducement to participation.[ 10 ] The amount and nature of remuneration should be compared to norms, cultural traditions and are subjected to the Ethical Committee Review.[ 7 ]

ISSUES RELATED TO THE RESEARCHER

Legal issues pertaining to regulatory bodies.

Various regulatory bodies have been constituted to uphold the safety of subjects involved in research. It is imperative to obtain approval from the appropriate regulatory authorities before proceeding to any research. The constitution and the types of these bodies vary nation-wise. The researchers are expected to be aware of these authorities and the list of various bodies pertinent to India are listed in the article “Research methodology II” of this issue.

Avoiding bias, inappropriate research methodology, incorrect reporting and inappropriate use of information

Good, well-designed studies advance medical science development. Poorly conducted studies violate the principle of justice, as there are time and resources wastage for research sponsors, researchers and subjects, and undermine the societal trust on scientific enquiry.[ 11 ] The Guidelines for GCP is an international ethical and scientific quality standard for designing, conducting, recording and reporting trials.[ 1 ]

Fraud in research and publication

De novo data invention (fabrication) and manipulation of data (falsification)[ 6 ] constitute serious scientific misconduct. The true prevalence of scientific fraud is difficult to measure (2%–14%).[ 12 ]

Plagiarism and its checking

Plagiarism is the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or intellectual property without attribution or permission and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source.[ 13 ] Tools such as similarity check[ 14 ] are available to aid researchers detect similarities between manuscripts, and such checks should be done before submission.[ 15 ]

Overlapping publications

Duplicate publications violate international copyright laws and waste valuable resources.[ 16 , 17 ] Such publications can distort evidence-based medicine by double-counting of data when inadvertently included in meta-analyses.[ 16 ] This practice could artificially enlarge one's scientific work, distorting apparent productivity and may give an undue advantage when competing for research funding or career advancement.[ 17 ] Examples of these practices include:

Duplicate publication, redundant publication

Publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published, without reference to the previous publication.[ 11 ]

Salami publication

Slicing of data from a single research process into different pieces creating individual manuscripts from each piece to artificially increase the publication volume.[ 16 ]

Such misconduct may lead to retraction of articles. Transparent disclosure is important when submitting papers to journals to declare if the manuscript or related material has been published or submitted elsewhere, so that the editor can decide how to handle the submission or to seek further clarification. Further information on acceptable secondary publication can be found in the ICMJE ‘Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publishing of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals’.

Usually, sponsors and authors are required to sign over certain publication rights to the journal through copyright transfer or a licensing agreement; thereafter, authors should obtain written permission from the journal/publisher if they wish to reuse the published material elsewhere.[ 6 ]

Authorship and its various associations

The ICMJE recommendation lists four criteria of authorship:

Authors and researchers have an ethical obligation to ensure the accuracy, publication and dissemination of the result of research,[ 4 ] as well as disclosing to publishers relevant corrections, retractions and errata, to protect scientific integrity of published evidence. Every research study involving human subjects must be registered in a publicly accessible database (e.g., ANZCTR [Australia and NZ], ClinicalTrials.gov [US and non-US], CTRI [India]) and the results made publicly available.[ 4 ] Sponsors of clinical trials must allow all study investigators and manuscript authors access to the full study data set and the right to use all study data for publication.[ 5 ] Source documents (containing trial data) and clinical study report (results and interpretation of trial) form part of the essential documentation that must be retained for a length of time prescribed by the applicable local legislation.[ 1 ] The ICMJE is currently proposing a requirement of authors to share with others de-identified individual patient data underlying the results presented in articles published in member journals.[ 18 ]

Those who have contributed to the work but do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged; some of these activities include provision of administrative support, writing assistance and proofreading. They should have their written permission sought for their names to be published and disclose any potential conflicts of interest.[ 6 ] The Council of Scientific Editors has identified several inappropriate types of authorship, such as guest authorship, honorary or gift authorship and ghost authorship.[ 6 ] Various interventions should be put in place to prevent such fraudulent practices in research.[ 19 ] The list of essential documents for the conduct of a clinical trial is included in other articles of the same issue.

The recent increase in research activities has led to concerns regarding ethical and legal issues. Various guidelines have been formulated by organisations and authorities, which serve as a guide to promote integrity, compliance and ethical standards in the conduct of research. Fraud in research undermines the quality of establishing evidence-based medicine, and interventions should be put in place to prevent such practices. A general overview of ethical and legal principles will enable research to be conducted in accordance with the best practices.

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John Osborn's Enduring Words On Law & Learning , Walter Effross 2023 American University Washington College of Law

John Osborn's Enduring Words On Law & Learning , Walter Effross

When I started my first year at Harvard Law School, 17 years after Osborn did, I wasn’t looking for enlightenment. But I expected to be — and was — intimidated by Socratic taskmasters who, like the movie version of Osborn’s Professor Kingsfield (a role for which John Houseman won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 1973), were ready with “always another question, another question to follow your answer.”

What A Waste! An Evaluation Of Federal And State Medical And Biohazard Waste Regulations During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Their Impact On Environmental Justice , Samantha Newman 2023 Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law

What A Waste! An Evaluation Of Federal And State Medical And Biohazard Waste Regulations During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Their Impact On Environmental Justice , Samantha Newman

Villanova environmental law journal.

The Evolution Of Chapter 11: How Corporate Restructuring Has Evolved And Its Important Role In The Recovery Of A Struggling Economy , Eduardo Cervantes 2023 DePaul University

The Evolution Of Chapter 11: How Corporate Restructuring Has Evolved And Its Important Role In The Recovery Of A Struggling Economy , Eduardo Cervantes

Covid-19 Vs. Constitution; Limited Government's Unlimited Response , John A. Losurdo 2023 DePaul University

Covid-19 Vs. Constitution; Limited Government's Unlimited Response , John A. Losurdo

The "No License, No Chips" Policy: When A Refusal To Deal Becomes Reasonable , Sheng Tong 2023 DePaul University

The "No License, No Chips" Policy: When A Refusal To Deal Becomes Reasonable , Sheng Tong

The Dark Triad: Private Benefits Of Control, Voting Caps And The Mandatory Takeover Rule , Jorge Brito Pereira 2023 DePaul University

The Dark Triad: Private Benefits Of Control, Voting Caps And The Mandatory Takeover Rule , Jorge Brito Pereira

Repugnant Precedents And The Court Of History , Daniel B. Rice 2023 University of Arkansas School of Law

Repugnant Precedents And The Court Of History , Daniel B. Rice

Michigan law review.

Aged Supreme Court precedents continue to tolerate many practices that would shock modern sensibilities. Yet the Court lacks standard tools for phasing out decisions that offend our national character. The very cultural shifts that have reoriented our normative universe have also insulated most repugnant precedents from direct attack. And the familiar stare decisis factors cannot genuinely explain what ails societally outmoded decisions. Even for justices inclined to condemn these embarrassments in less clinical terms, it is unclear what qualifies courts to make universalist claims about contemporary American values.

The Court recently sidestepped these difficulties by insisting that one of its …

Beavor V. Tomsheck, 138 Nev. Adv. Op. 71 (Nov. 10, 2022) , Genell Maggiacomo 2023 University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School of Law

Beavor V. Tomsheck, 138 Nev. Adv. Op. 71 (Nov. 10, 2022) , Genell Maggiacomo

Nevada supreme court summaries.

In an opinion written by Justice Hardesty, the Nevada Supreme Court evaluated whether assignment of proceeds towards an opponent in the same litigation where the legal malpractice arose is valid. The Nevada Supreme Court held that it is invalid because of the violation of public policy. The Court followed the precedent set out in Tower Homes, LLC v. Heaton, which held that assignments for legal malpractice claims prohibited public policy. The Court held that the district court ruled correctly by invalidating the assignment. However, an invalid assignment would not preclude an injured client from pursuing a legal malpractice claim where …

The Murder Of George Floyd: A Case Study Examining How The Policing Of Black Men And Grassroots Activism Influence The Will Of Black Women To Lead , Ella Gates-Mahmoud 2023 Concordia University St. Paul

The Murder Of George Floyd: A Case Study Examining How The Policing Of Black Men And Grassroots Activism Influence The Will Of Black Women To Lead , Ella Gates-Mahmoud

Doctorate in education.

This study's objective investigates the viewpoints held by Black women in two urban areas of Minnesota about the social upheaval that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020 for using a counterfeit $20 bill. In the last decade, police killings of innocent Black people in the United States have received more attention, and Floyd's death is only one example of this phenomenon. In the U.S., the likelihood of a police officer taking the life of a Black man is higher than that of a White man. Between 2013-2019 there have been 1,641 fatal shootings of defenseless Black men by …

Human Rights And Lawyer’S Oaths , Lauren E. Bartlett 2023 Saint Louis University School of Law

Human Rights And Lawyer’S Oaths , Lauren E. Bartlett

All faculty scholarship.

Each lawyer in the United States must take an oath to be licensed to practice law. The first time a lawyer takes this oath is usually a momentous occasion in their career, marked by ceremony and celebration. Yet, many lawyer’s oaths today are unremarkable and irrelevant to modern law practice at best, and at worst, inappropriate, discriminatory, and obsolete. Drawing on a fifty-state survey of lawyer’s oaths in the United States, this article argues that it is past time to update lawyer’s oaths in the United States and suggests drawing on human rights to make lawyer’s oaths more accessible and …

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The Concerns of Legal Ethics
Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper Series. Paper No. 1646558. Philosophical Legal Ethics: Ethics, Morals, and. Jurisprudence. Alice Woolley.
Researching Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility
Other topics include perjury, communications, witnesses, jurors, the court, the press, trial tactics, prosecutors, market, solicitation
Legal Ethics: Vol 24, No 2 (Current issue)
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Legal Ethics
Publishes international research on legal ethics, including the conduct of the legal professions, moral development and ethical responsibilities of law
Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Research
Practice Guides & Other Secondary Sources · Paper Topic Ideas & Recent Ethics Developments · California Rules of Professional Conduct · ABA Model
(PDF) Law and Ethics: The Twin Disciplines
Ethics is a highly productive discipline for legal research. First, its subject, morality, and the academic discipline itself share important
Journal of the Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics
The Journal of the Institute for the Study of Legal Ethics is a journal ... It is a collection of both the major papers and commentaries that were delivered
Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics
The Journal strives to publish cutting edge articles on ethical issues, facilitate symposia that include legal scholars, attorneys from diverse practice areas
Legal and ethical issues in research
This article seeks to briefly review the various international guidelines and regulations that exist on issues related to informed consent, confidentiality
Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Open access academic research from top universities on the subject of Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility.