Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Lawyer as an Ethical Role Model

A friend of mine worked in a law firm as a file clerk before coming to law school. We were talking about his prior legal experience when he recounted a particular assignment he was given

File Clerk: Capital Partner, I found these documents as I was preparing to do some filing. They have your signature and name all over them. Before I stash them away, I was wondering what file they should go in. [Hands the documents over]

Capital Partner
: [Reads through them] Well shit. [Continues to read] It’s like this. I signed an affidavit two days ago saying that we did not have nor ever have had these documents.

File Clerk:
I see. So what would you like me to do with them?

Capital Partner
: You taking the train home this evening?

File Clerk
: Yeah

Capital Partner
: Does anyone from the office take the train with you?

File Clerk
: No. I’m actually going home early today

Capital Partner
: So here’s what you do. Take these documents with you. Every couple of stops, get out. Toss a few pages in the nearest trash can. Spread them out over five or six stops.