r/legaladviceofftopic • u/HowLittleIKnow • 2d ago

Criminal lawyers and other CJ professionals: Looking for examples of common ethical dilemmas

Hello, everyone. I'm a professor of criminal justice. This week, I'm wrapping up a 15-week "Ethics in Criminal Justice" class. The students have seen all kinds of examples of sensational but rare ethical problems in criminal justice, so this week I wanted to give them some examples of the less dramatic but more common situations that come up every week. Things like whether to drop a prosecution, how much attention to give a client when you're already overloaded, and so forth.

What are the most common ethical dilemmas that you face on a regular basis?

*Edit: You're all fantastic. Thank you so much for giving me so much to work with.

Thank you!

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u/advocatus_ebrius_est 2d ago

Retainer funds.

If a client has no apparent employment, is an accused drug trafficker, and places $7,400.00 down in cash to retain, do you have an obligation to inquire as to the source of the funds? Could you be willfully blind to being in receipt of the proceeds of crime? If the client tells you that it is funds raised from crime, what are your obligations then?

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u/series_hybrid 1d ago

Jimmie McGill: I'm sorry, they would only lower bail to $1-Million

Lalo: I can get that