The primary characteristics which distinguish the legal profession from business are: (a) “a duty of public service of which emolument is a by-product, and in which one may attain the highest eminence without making much money”, (b) “a relation as officer of the court to the administration of justice involving thorough sincerity, integrity, and reliability”, (c) “a relation to client in the highest degree fiduciary”, and (d) “a relation to colleagues at the bar characterized by candor, fairness, and unwillingness to resort to current business methods of advertising and encroachment on their practice, or dealing directly with their clients”.
These characteristics make the law a noble profession, and the privilege to practice it is bestowed only upon individuals who are competent intellectually, academically and morally. Its basic ideal is to render service and to secure justice for those who seek its aid. If it has to remain a noble and honorable profession and attain its ideal, those enrolled in is ranks should not only master its tenets and principles but should also, by their lives, accord continuing fidelity to them. And because they are the vanguards of the law and the legal systems, lawyers must at all times conduct themselves in their professional and private dealings with honesty and integrity in a manner beyond reproach. (PCGG vs. SB, et al.,)
