Ethics

Be sure to explain your answers and back yourself up with either references to the textbook reading or outside sources, preferably primary sources of law, such as the Virginia State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct or the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, or other source  AS APPROPRIATE (properly cited, of course).  Mention rules of law upon which you are relying within the body of your answers, and also include a complete citation to all of your sources in a references section at the bottom of your assignment.

1. Integrity is an amorphous quality.  Many of us believe that we are people of integrity, but what does that really mean?  Give several examples (both from inside and outside the field of law) of having integrity.  Give several examples of not having integrity.
2. How would you describe the “duty of integrity?” What purpose does it serve?
3. Does Virginia impose a duty on lawyers to report the misconduct of others?  To what kinds of misconduct does this duty apply?  Does Virginia impose a duty on lawyers to report their own misconduct?
4. How do these rules on reporting misconduct apply to you as a paralegal?
5. If you decide to report misconduct, to whom are you supposed to report?
6. How do you see your role in protecting public trust?
7. Do you consider yourself as being a person of integrity?  Why or why not?
8. Check with Virginia’s disciplinary authority.  What is the most common reason for lawyer discipline in Virginia? 
9. What steps do you think you could take, as a paralegal for one of those lawyers, to prohibit the conduct that leads to discipline?