Professional responsibility is a set of duties within the concept of
professional ethics
Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behavior expected of professionals.
The word professionalism originally applied to vows of a religious order. By no later than the year 1675, the term had seen secular applic ...
for those who exercise a unique set of knowledge and skill as
professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
s.
Professional responsibility applies to those professionals making judgments, applying their unique
skill
A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...
s, and reaching informed
decisions for, or on behalf, of others, as professionals. Professionals must be seen to exercise due care and responsibility in their areas of specialisation – known as
profession
A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...
s.
What makes professionals unique, is that the general public would not ordinarily be expected know in detail the skills and knowledge of a professions independently.
In a modern context, professional responsibility encompasses an array of the personal, corporate, and humanitarian standards of behaviour, as expected by
clients, fellow professionals, and
professional bodies
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
.
Origins and History
Professional responsibility historically applied to
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
ly taught professions including
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
,
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, and
divinity
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine ...](_blank)
– or
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
. The origins of this phrase date back to 1695, with the aforementioned split of the concept into three areas. The term continued to evolve alongside generally accepted responsibilities for professionals to become all-encompassing as it accommodated new emerging professions in modern societies.
![AMA Code of Medical Ethics](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/AMA_Code_of_Medical_Ethics.png)
In the earlier history of the phrase ‘professional responsibility’,
Thomas Percival (1740-1804) published one of the most notable
professional codes for medical ethics, specifically for practising
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s in the United States governing their professional responsibilities as practitioners. Percival was also accomplished in founding one of the first known professional responsibility codes to be adopted by a professional body:
The American Medical Association (AMA)
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
The AMA's stat ...
.
More recently, modern professionals and their networks continue to adopt the various
codes of professional responsibility to suit their evolving modern professions. Research has shown that through implementation of
common behavioural standards, the likelihood of interpersonal conflict decreases where
honour
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of socia ...
and
respect
Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...
is encouraged. Professional responsibility acts as an organisational
framework
A framework is a generic term commonly referring to an essential supporting structure which other things are built on top of.
Framework may refer to:
Computing
* Application framework, used to implement the structure of an application for an op ...
permitting professionals to assert practical
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
in their fields, away from nominal employers, by way of service to their clients.
Implementation
Professional responsibility is typically implemented by an organisation or institution’s
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
, through what is commonly referred to as a
code of ethics
Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of bus ...
or similar guiding document of standards. A code of ethics sets out principles and rules to assist professionals and organisations to govern their implementation of the ideals of professional responsibility. A code of ethics also establishes a general idea of the
ethical standards
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
for businesses or other organizations.
Because professionals are persons conducting unique skills in their career of choice, ethics, responsibility guidelines and professional responsibility principles, should be applied simultaneously through organisations professionals work within, but also implemented in the individual’s character,
demeanour, and
personal life
Personal life is the course or state of an individual's life, especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices contributing to one's personal identity.
Apart from hunter-gatherers, most pre-modern peoples' time was limited by the need to ...
. Professional responsibility is implemented to assess the moral dimension of human activity in occupations that have professional status, concerned with the moral conduct and standards governing the profession and its members.
Professional responsibility is defined by professional accepted standards of personal behaviour, moral values, and personal guiding principles. Codes for professional responsibility may be established by professional bodies or organizations to guide members in performing functions to a consistent ethical set of principles. In the rapidly
globalised world, developments in technology for many occupations in different fields, mean that professionals must pay particular attention to this rapid growth.
Professional responsibility helps professionals to choose how to react to problems, by making choices and other approaches, drawing prescriptive through professional ethics. These perspectives can be reached through
virtue
Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standard ...
s,
values
In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of dif ...
,
rules
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule perta ...
, other
ethical theories
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of morality, right and wrong action (philosophy), behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, alo ...
, moral stances, moral decisions and moral compasses.
Common Competencies of Professional Responsibility
Professional responsibility should be implemented through several components as general guidance for members of professional bodies. These competencies include:
*
Honesty
Honesty or truthfulness is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, ...
- being trustworthy, loyal, sincere, and fair
*
Integrity
Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values.
In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Inte ...
- consistency between actions, values, expectations, and outcomes
*
Transparency - operating where others can see what actions are performed
*
Accountability
Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...
- taking responsibility for actions and their outcomes wherever due
*
Objectivity - having a well-informed unbiased view on practical matters
*
Respect
Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...
fulness - treating colleagues and clients with care and compassion
*
Obedience to the law – adhering to regulatory and governmental guidelines
Industry Examples
The Legal Profession
Legal professionals and associates of the legal profession are bound general codes of ethics, with governing principals of client privilege, confidentiality, completeness, and professional courtesy. This professions’ responsibilities vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but generally form a similar perspective internationally.
The Medical Profession
The American Medical Association imposes its code of ethics on practising medical professionals in the USA, which discusses issues ranging from workplace interpersonal relationships with staff, to the handling of critical information regarding patient care. Internationally, medical professionals often take the
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific e ...
, an oath of Greek origins, which encompasses the ‘first do not harm’ responsibility.
The Business World
Businesses have codes of ethics to assist workers deducing whether behaviours would be considered appropriate or acceptable wherever dealing with clients and stakeholders. Some businesses will require their staff to attend recurring monthly or yearly training on business ethics. In some cases, employees may be required to sign declarations that they will adhere to the organisations ethical guidelines as laid out by the employer.
Teachers and Education
Teachers and education professionals – such as those in tertiary institutions – often act as role models to students. Their code of ethics usually protects their students against mistreatment and protects the value of sharing knowledge through responsible communication.
Violations in normal
Common violations include
* Conflicts of interest. This occurs where the same lawyer or firm is representing both sides in a lawsuit, or previously represented one side. In countries with the
adversarial system
The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties' case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a judge or jury, who attempt to det ...
of justice, a conflict of interest violates the right of each client to the undivided, zealous loyalty of his lawyer. Conflicts may also occur if the lawyer's ability to represent a client is materially limited by the lawyer's loyalty to another client, a personal relationship, or other reasons.
* Incompetent representation. Attorneys have a duty to provide competent representation, and the failure to observe deadlines or conduct thorough research is considered a breach of ethics.
* Mishandling of client money. Clients often advance money to lawyers for a variety of reasons. The money must be kept in special client trust accounts until it is actually earned by the lawyer or spent on court fees or other expenses.
* Fee-splitting arrangements. Attorneys may not split fees with non-attorneys, or with other attorneys who have not worked on the matter for which the client is represented.
* Disclosure of confidential information. Lawyers are under a strict
duty of confidentiality
In common law jurisdictions, the duty of confidentiality obliges solicitors (or attorney at law, attorneys) to respect the confidentiality of their clients' affairs. Information that solicitors obtain about their clients' affairs may be confide ...
to keep information received in the course of their representations secret. Absent law to the contrary, lawyers may not reveal or use this information to the detriment of their clients.
* Communication with represented parties. An attorney may not communicate directly with a person who they know to be represented by counsel with respect to a matter for which the attorney is seeking to communicate. For example, in a civil suit, the plaintiff's attorney may not speak to the defendant directly if the attorney knows that the defendant is represented by counsel without their attorney's express consent.
* Proper solicitation and advertising. Attorneys generally may solicit business by personally offering their services to potential clients who are not already close friends or family members. Advertising by attorneys is also strictly regulated, to prevent puffery and other misleading assertions regarding potential results.
In the United States
In U.S. law schools
Following the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
, which involved questionable behavior by a number of lawyers, the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
("ABA") mandated that all
American law schools incorporate a required course on this topic. This is typically offered as an upper-level course, most often taken in the second year. Professional responsibility courses include matters pertaining to basic
legal ethics
Legal ethics are principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself.
In the United States
In the U.S., each state or territ ...
, as well as
bar admissions,
legal advertising
Legal advertising is advertising by lawyers ( attorneys), solicitors and law firms. Legal marketing is a broader term referring to advertising and other practices, including client relations, social media, and public relations. It's a type of ma ...
,
disbarment
Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal con ...
proceedings,
ineffective assistance of counsel
In United States law, ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) is a claim raised by a convicted criminal defendant asserting that the defendant's legal counsel performed so ineffectively that it deprived the defendant of the constitutional right gua ...
, and
judicial misconduct
Judicial misconduct occurs when a judge acts in ways that are considered unethical or otherwise violate the judge's obligations of impartial conduct.
Actions that can be classified as judicial misconduct include: conduct prejudicial to the effect ...
.
Maynard Pirsig
Maynard E. Pirsig, LLD, (/ˈpɜːrsɪɡ/; January 9, 1902 - February 7, 1997) was an American legal scholar. He was director of the Minnesota Legal Aid Society, dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, a Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and ...
, published one of the first course books on legal ethics, ''Cases and Materials on Legal Ethics'', 1949, later ''Cases and Materials on the Standards of the Legal Profession'', 1957, and ''Cases and Materials on Professional Responsibility'', 1965.
Maynard Pirsig
Maynard E. Pirsig, LLD, (/ˈpɜːrsɪɡ/; January 9, 1902 - February 7, 1997) was an American legal scholar. He was director of the Minnesota Legal Aid Society, dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, a Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and ...
also published the definition of ''legal ethics'' in ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', 1974.
Examinations
Every state in the United States tests prospective attorneys on their knowledge of professional responsibility. Forty-seven states and the
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
require bar applicants to pass an exam called the
Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam
The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is a 120-minute, 60-question, multiple-choice examination designed to measure the knowledge and understanding of established standards related to a lawyer's professional conduct. It i ...
(MPRE). The remaining three states test professional responsibility on their local
bar examination
A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction.
Australia
Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associ ...
s. Furthermore, the ABA promulgated the
ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) are a set of rules and commentaries on the ethical and professional responsibilities of members of the legal profession in the United States. Although the MRPC generally is ...
.
in 1983; when Maine adopted the model rules in August 2009, California became the only remaining U.S. jurisdiction not to have adopted the model rules in whole or in part. Most states have only minor variations from the model rules, if any. Attorneys who violate professional responsibility rules may be subject to
sanction
A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym.
Examples of sanctions include:
Government and law
* Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts
* Economic sanctions, typically a b ...
s ranging from reprimands to temporary suspension to permanent disbarment.
See also
*
Legal malpractice
Legal malpractice is the term for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, or breach of contract by a lawyer during the provision of legal services that causes harm to a client.
Examples
A common example of legal malpractice involves the lawyer's m ...
*
Professional
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
*
Professional abuse Professional abuse is "a pattern of conduct in which a person abuses, violates, or takes advantage of a victim within the context of the abuser's profession." This typically involves a violation of the relevant professional organization's code of e ...
*
Professional ethics
Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behavior expected of professionals.
The word professionalism originally applied to vows of a religious order. By no later than the year 1675, the term had seen secular applic ...
*
Professional negligence in English Law
*
:United States professional responsibility case law
References
{{Authority control
Legal ethics
Sociological terminology
Professional ethics