LJU4802 Assignment 1 Semester 1 2023 (211581{Distinction level} Questions and Answer

What are the functions of a code of legal ethics? - -• protect the professional nature of legal services by stressing the obligation of professionals to serve justice and the public • correct the imbalance in the relationship between the professional and the client • maintain public confidence • protect the public against improper conduct or incompetence by prescribing and guaranteeing the standards of skill, learning and conduct required • provide practitioners and newcomers with broad parameters for making morally responsible choices in testing situations • ensure fair competition between legal practitioners • discipline unprofessional behaviour -Adversial Legal System - -- aka accusatory system - 2 parties face each other (eg state and accused) - role of legal representative and judge are clearly separated - judge acts as an impartial referee, who listens toboth sides of the case and must see to it that the various legal representatives adhere to the procedural rules - judge must ascertain the true version of the facts and apply the law objectively to these facts - legal practitioners focus on the client interest and do not really strive for justice - legal practitioners act as mouth piece for clients - judge decides if accused is guilty - legal representative is not independent or impartial - only listens to client side -Referral rule - -- Adv do not accept briefs directly from clients - must be briefed by an attorney - attorney initiates the contract between adv and client, negotiates fees, instructs adv, etc - in public interest for courts to enforce the referral rule - advocates may not take instructions directly from lay clients and can do so only with the intervention of an attorney - is fundamental to the advocates' profession. - the purpose of the referral rule is to protect members of the public because advocates do not hold trust accounts. He added that it does so effectively and that it is not designed or implemented in order to deny disadvantaged citizens access to advocates or to courts. 'Moreover, the referral rule applies regardless of whether the advocate is a member of an established Bar or the independent Bar -Post modernism is characterized by - -- the demise of the belief in the universal