Are Attorneys Honest? Depp Trial Commentary - Part 2: Aspirations

In this series, we'll explore the topic of honesty in the legal profession. We'll learn about ethical rules - technical and aspirational - for attorneys, and how they were followed (or not) in the Depp trial. What was right, what was wrong, and what was downright Slimeball City? In general, do lawyers have to tell the truth?

This section is giving background for the standards we should be applying to lawyer conduct and why. ***If you're tuning in for specifics from the Depp case, this video won't be the one for you! Come back for Part 3 when we start to dig into specific instances of attorney behavior and apply these principles and the specific ethical rules to that conduct.

0:00 Intro
2:17 "Dog and Fox" - poem by John Gay
3:45 The importance of perspectives
7:29 Oath of Washington State attorneys
9:57 Preamble to Virginia rules of professional responsibility
11:35 Lawyers have power in our society
15:14 Not everyone is principled