Topic > A Personal and Professional Ethical Analysis of the Vegas Drunk Lawyer Mistrial

AbstractThis paper explores and serves as a reaction to the video titled “Drunk Vegas Lawyer Mistrial.” A brief summary of the video will be provided along with an analysis of a Nevada defense attorney's actions in court. Your actions will be examined and whether or not those actions model ethical behavior and fit moral and professional guidelines will be assessed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Week 3 Assignment: Personal and Professional Ethics Ethics, or the debate between right and wrong, is something that is constantly debated and is subjective to personal views and particular circumstances. People also commonly have personal and professional ethics that sometimes coincide, conflict, or remain independent of each other. In some cases, personal ethics can be influenced by professional ethics and vice versa. In the video titled "Drunk Vegas Lawyer Mistrial", numerous violations of personal and professional ethics are seen. In the video mentioned above, set on August 3, 2006, a Nevada criminal defense attorney shows up to court late in the middle of a kidnapping trial. Once in court, the lawyer informs the judge that he was late due to involvement in a car accident. After changing his story several times, speaking with the judge in chambers, and being caught in several lies, the judge finally orders the lawyer to perform a portable breath test to determine blood alcohol concentration ( BAC). After taking the test nearly two and a half hours after his first court appearance, the attorney's BAC was nearly .08, indicating he had a fair amount of alcohol in his system (The Attorney Depot, 2012 ). The first ethical issue in this situation is that the lawyer shows up late to court because he is drunk. In the video he can be heard mumbling and even swaying as he stands and talks to the judge. I think it is extremely unethical for the lawyer to appear in court in this way. It is also extremely unfair to his client who was facing kidnapping charges and a possible life sentence. At one point, the lawyer states that he had practiced law for sixteen years and was ready to proceed with the trial. Due to his drunkenness, the lawyer also creates the story of having been involved in a traffic accident in which his vehicle was hit from behind, causing him to arrive late. The judge finds several gaps in his story that reveal the lawyer was not truthful. In my opinion the lawyer's general behavior was unethical. As a veteran lawyer and court officer, he is someone who should realize that such behavior is not only unethical but violates court procedure. As stated in the course text, there are certain principles that lawyers should follow as part of an attorney/client relationship, including: “Treat clients/relationships professionally, do not deliberately engage in deceptive behavior, avoid harm to others , be loyal to the client, and make sound moral decisions.” Furthermore, it is evident that the lawyer in this video is not following these moral guidelines and is not taking his client into consideration (Braswell, McCarthy, & McCarthy, 2015) .Aside from the obvious unethical behavior of the lawyer, a second possible problem I encountered in the video was the questioning of the lawyer by the judge for almost two hours in open court. I am not very familiar with the proceedings judicial However, this seemed.