Code of Ethics Adopted by Mississippi State Bar Association at Its Second Annual Meeting Held at Vicksburg, Mississippi

Front Cover
Mississippi State Bar Association, 1907 - 13 pages

From inside the book

Selected pages

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 7 - A lawyer should not communicate or argue privately with the judge as to the merits of a pending cause, and he deserves rebuke and denunciation for any device or attempt to gain from a judge special personal consideration or favor.
Page 10 - The miscarriages to which justice is subject, by reason of surprises and disappointments in evidence and witnesses, and through mistakes of juries and errors of Courts, even though only occasional, admonish lawyers to beware of bold and confident assurances to clients, especially where the employment may depend upon such assurance. Whenever the controversy will admit of fair adjustment, the client should be advised to avoid or to end the litigation.
Page 12 - In determining the amount of the fee, it is proper to consider : (1) the time and labor required...
Page 9 - TO CONTROL THE INCIDENTS OF THE TRIAL As to incidental matters pending the trial, not affecting the merits of the cause, or working substantial prejudice to the rights of the client, such as forcing the opposite lawyer to trial when he is under affliction or bereavement; forcing the trial on a particular day to the injury of the opposite lawyer when no harm will result from a trial at a different time; agreeing to an extension...
Page 3 - ... arising. There are pitfalls and man-traps at every step, and the mere youth, at the very outset of his career, needs often the prudence and self-denial, as well as the moral courage, which belong commonly to riper years. High moral principle is his only safe guide; the only torch to light his way amidst darkness and obstruction.
Page 6 - But it is steadfastly to be borne in mind that the great trust of the lawyer is to be performed within and not without the bounds of the law. The office of attorney does not permit, much less does it demand of him for any client, violation of law or any manner of fraud or chicane. He must obey his own conscience and not that of his client 16.
Page 9 - ... must be allowed to judge. In such matters no client has a right to demand that his counsel shall be illiberal, or that he do anything therein repugnant to his own sense of honor and propriety.
Page 7 - It requires a strong case to justify such publications; and when proper, it is unprofessional to make them anonymously. 18. When an attorney is a witness for his client except as to formal matters, such as the attestation or custody of an instrument and the like, he should leave the trial of the cause to other counsel. Except when essential to the ends of justice, an attorney should scrupulously avoid testifying in court in behalf of his client, as to any matter.
Page 6 - An attorney appearing or continuing as private counsel in the prosecution of a crime of which he believes the accused innocent, forswears himself. The state's attorney is criminal if he presses for a conviction, when upon the evidence he believes the prisoner innocent. If the...
Page 13 - When Counsel for an Indigent Prisoner. A lawyer assigned as counsel for an indigent prisoner ought not to ask to be excused for any trivial reason, and should always exert his best efforts in his behalf.

Bibliographic information