Mapping the Moral Compass: The Relationships between In-House Lawyers’ Role, Professional Orientations, Team Cultures, Organisational Pressures, Ethical Infrastructure and Ethical Inclination

122 Pages Posted: 27 May 2016

See all articles by Richard Moorhead

Richard Moorhead

Exeter Law School, University of Exeter; Centre for Ethics and Law, Faculty of Laws, UCL London

Cristina Godinho

University College London - Centre for Behaviour Change (CBC)

Steven Vaughan

Faculty of Laws, University College London

Paul Gilbert

LBC Wise Counsel

Stephen Mayson

University College London - Faculty of Laws

Date Written: June 2, 2016

Abstract

This report provides a unique profile of real differences within the in-house community. We examine individual and team orientations to the in-house role; the invocation of professional principles; and ethical infrastructure, ethical pressure and relationships with the employer. We relate these to externally validated indicators of ethical inclination: (i) moral attentiveness (the extent to which people deal with problems as moral problems and the extent to which people identify moral problems); and (ii) moral disengagement (the extent to which people are inclined to morally disengage to behave unethically without feeling distress). It is as rich a picture of what it means to be an ethical in-house lawyer as has ever been attempted.

Through this research we profile the characteristics of individuals, teams and environments most associated with a stronger or weaker inclination to behave ethically. It is important to emphasise that this mapping of the ‘moral compass’ of in-house lawyers shows that ethicality is associated with individual and professional notions of the in-house role but also with team orientations and the broader organisational environment. Ethicality is both a systemic and individual phenomenon.

To help understand the diversity in ethical identities, we identify four main groups of in-house lawyers (described in more detail in Chapter 9):

• the Capitulators (who are reasonably morally attentive but are under ethical pressure and are less morally engaged);

• the Coasters (who do not perceive themselves as under ethical pressure and have moderate-low levels of moral attentiveness but not lower moral disengagement);

• the Comfortably Numb (who do not perceive high levels of ethical pressure and have low levels of moral attentiveness and higher moral disengagement – the most concerning of the four groups); and,

• the Champions (who are under the highest levels of ethical pressure but retain the highest levels of moral attentiveness and the lowest levels of moral disengagement).

Our research suggests that ethical in-house practice is about individual understandings of the role (orientations towards commerciality; ethicality; independence; being a mere advisor; and exploiting uncertainty); it is about the approach of teams and the organisations those teams work in; it is about understanding and drawing on all the obligations of professionalism; and, it is about building a better infrastructure to manage the tensions within the role.

Keywords: Professional ethics, in-house lawyers, general counsel

Suggested Citation

Moorhead, Richard Lewis and Godinho, Cristina and Vaughan, Steven and Gilbert, Paul and Mayson, Stephen, Mapping the Moral Compass: The Relationships between In-House Lawyers’ Role, Professional Orientations, Team Cultures, Organisational Pressures, Ethical Infrastructure and Ethical Inclination (June 2, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2784758 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2784758

Richard Lewis Moorhead (Contact Author)

Exeter Law School, University of Exeter ( email )

University of Exeter
Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ
United Kingdom

Centre for Ethics and Law, Faculty of Laws, UCL London ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom

Cristina Godinho

University College London - Centre for Behaviour Change (CBC)

Gower Street
London, WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

Steven Vaughan

Faculty of Laws, University College London ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.laws.ucl.ac.uk/people/steven-vaughan/

Paul Gilbert

LBC Wise Counsel

Cheltenham Film and Photographic Studios
Hatherley Lane
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL51 6PN
United Kingdom

Stephen Mayson

University College London - Faculty of Laws ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom

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