Ethics in Practice
The Use of Standardised Clients
Methodology to Teach and Assess
Professional Ethics and Communication
Skills
Freda Grealy, Law Society of Ireland
Rory O’Boyle, Northumbria University
Setting & background
• The research site, part of
intervention study ‘Certificate in
Legal Ethics and Lawyering
Skills’
• The Irish apprenticeship model
of training lawyers
• Assessment key incentive for
trainees – 20% of final mark
• Building on initial pilot study
Aims of the exercise
• To teach substantive topic – solicitors regulation &
complaints procedure
• To highlight issues of professional responsibility & ethics
 Traditionally taught in narrow defensive way
 Based on flawed assumption of inherent values
 Test moral courage & commitment
 Reinforce the values of the profession & The Law Society
 Heighten commitment to behaving professionally
 Get trainees to reflect on the professional identity ‘gap’;
fragmentation of the profession, low public perception of
lawyers – trainees face challenges figuring out what it
means to be a professional and their responsibility as
solicitors to the wider community
Mind the gap! Ethics deficit
• Where does socialisation occur?
The firm – the ‘five star’ training experience for
all?
Communities of practice – modelling behaviour
•
•
Motivation & mixed profile of trainees & they want
the ‘hard law’ (& so do the large firms)
Professional legal education – moral compass &
compensate for unevenness
Mind the gap!
• Communication skills
• How do clients judge us?
• Value of Experience
Implementation
• Drafting the scenario – see ‘ethical traps‘
• Training of SC’s – methodology
• Amending the standard assessment sheets
• ‘Prepping’ the students
Ethical traps
Ethical Traps
Appropriate response (these responses are not intended to be
formulaic)
LS are a bunch of meddlers,
their fault
This tests the trainees ability to calmly point out that they have committed
breaches to the professional code of conduct. They should point out that they
did screw up and that the accountant wouldn’t be doing anything further about
this if it wasn’t for the fact that there were irregularities. The Law society has a
job to do – it’s each members of the professions responsibility to follow the
rules.
Sad & Bad
Tests the trainees ability to steer and direct the interview and get the information
required.
Insert the table
of ethical trips here
Obviously if they mention about putting the money in the office account this is a
big no, no, so they should immediately ask about this.
Mental Health Issue
Trainee should probe more about their mental health, med report?
Fraudster
Indicate to the solicitor client that you can’t represent them unless he provides a
full and honest account of the situation.
Ethical issue.
Blackmail
At this stage the trainee should really say ‘well of course I can’t act for you on
that basis or on those conditions.’
Assessment Results
• The client interview role play
• Instantaneous formative feedback &
debrief
• Client letter - reinforcing learning
• Overall performance – ‘communication’
performance & ‘ethics’ performance
Role play educational value
Trainee feedback
• There is no better way to test someone’s knowledge of a
topic than through a practical situation such as this. It is all
very well and good speaking and writing about ethics but as
a solicitor, you want to be able to put this into practice. Role
plays like this can often be awkward but I learnt a lot about
my communication skills from this exercise.
• I found it very interesting to see how I could hold the line
regarding ethical behaviour under pressure.
• ‘I found this immensely beneficial. I think there should be
more focus on developing practical skills like this as
opposed to examining students by way of written exam,
giving very little time to think or even write.’
• ‘This was particularly helpful as it allowed me to experience
a situation in which ethical issues might arise in practice,
and in turn practise how might deal with them in a live
context’
• ‘..useful because you had to think on your feet and that
makes you remember it more.’
• ‘Very useful as you learn from practice and experience.’
Feedback on formative assessment aspect
• ‘I found this very useful. The fact that it was a real solicitor
was very useful as I felt they had the background to give
me a thorough assessment of my skills in all areas. I found
the client behaviour challenged me and I felt that in future
as a result I could be confident that I would be able to deal
with a difficult client if the need arose. In addition I found
that having the video to review was very useful in noting
some mannerisms I had been unaware of and will seek to
adjust in the future.’
• ‘This was a wonderful exercise which I thoroughly enjoyed!
I thought that the feedback was invaluable and I think that
every PPC2 student should have to partake in a role play
of this kind.’
• ‘Really useful - I learnt a lot from this. It's very unlikely that
as a solicitor I will get critical feedback from a client as to
my composure/demeanour during the course of a
consultation so it was great to engage with someone who
was analysing me all the while’
Advantages of exercise
• Fun, enjoyable ‘‘..extremely useful and it
was the one exercise I found the most enjoyable.’
• All took to the role – ‘willing to suspend disbelief’
setting is important, authenticity
• ‘I was very happy that I had done it. These type of
exercises help build your confidence in yourself.’
Multilayered as it assesses
– Communication and interviewing skills
– Substantive knowledge
– Ethical commitment & professionalism
Challenges
• Resource intensive and potentially
expensive
• Number of different scenarios needed
• How would you scale up? – there are
400 trainees on average
• Very important that the SC’s are
solicitors for this scenario