By: Robert E. Rodes, Jr.
Because of the important work that is entrusted to them, lawyers
cannot rely on enacted measures devoid of moral content or on
elegant syllogisms with debatable premises. If lawyers are to lead
moral lives, they must exercise moral discernment in their
professional lives. This paper, drawing on the works of David Hume,
Adam Smith, and Jacques Maritain, provides a more in depth
understanding of moral discernment as the idea that Right and Wrong
are objective qualities that may be predicated of particular human
acts, and the role that moral discernment should play in the
professional lives of lawyers.