Preparing Australia's Future Lawyers: An Exposition of Changing Values Over Time in the Context of Teaching about Ethical Dilemmas

Abstract

This study investigated what values may be influential to decision making in relation to ethical behaviour for early career lawyers. It adopted a longitudinal approach to investigate how values develop or degrade over time as final year law students into their first two years of employment or further study. To this end the study investigated the role that tertiary education and employers fulfill in building and perpetrating 'appropriate professional values'. The implications of results are discussed in the context of ethics education in a tertiary context and the continuing education and regulation of the legal profession.

Keywords: Ethical behaviour, ethical dilemmas, early career lawyers, law students, tertiary education, professional values

JEL Classification: K30, K40, I20