What Can Hollywood Teach Us About Legal Ethics?

Ethics and Professional Responsibility

CPD Points 1

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4.5/5

Legal drama is a popular topic in film and television, but how does the conduct of on-screen lawyers compare with the ethical obligations placed on lawyers in real life?

All films and television shows about lawyers provide the opportunity to analyse whether or not the lawyer characters have acted in an ethically appropriate manner. In particular, lawyers can assess whether different characters’ behaviour would be ethically appropriate in the lawyer’s own jurisdiction.

This course draws on a number of examples from different films and television shows to illustrate different aspects of ethical and unethical behaviour by lawyer characters. The course primarily uses the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015 as the basis for examining whether or not the conduct of the lawyer characters in each of the scenarios is ethical or unethical.

Last Updated: January 2022

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Rachel Spencer

Associate Professor Rachel Spencer is the Director of Monash Law Clinics at Clayton and in Melbourne CBD.

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What Lawyers Say

4.0/5

Makes you think

More interesting than the usual ethics lectures, really made you think in each example.
- Glenn Atkinson, Director, Atkinson Family Lawyers
4.0/5

Practical way of learning.

Practical way of learning key ethical principles.
5.0/5

Enjoyable and learned a lot.

I enjoyed this CPD course, it was engaging and allowed me to learn and retain information.
5.0/5

Effective way of retaining information.

I found this course was the most effective way of retaining the information provided during a CPD seminar. Very good.