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also a substantial shareholder. The com- pany got into financial difficulty through bad management and needed to be reor- ganized to survive, a reorganization that would inflict pain on shareholders. My youngish friend went to the senior partner who acted for both the company and the CEO, and inquired how it was possible, in these circumstances, to act for both, since there seemed to be clearly conflict- ing interests. "It's as if there is a building with two entrance doors," said the senior partner, determined to hang on to both clients. "Two doors, yes, but each door opens into the same building." My friend wasn't buying this mysterious metaphor; he knew a conflict when he saw it, and, at some cost to his career within the firm, pursued the issue until the firm's executive committee decided that one of the two clients had to go. What mattered was gut instinct, not fancy reasoning. What often makes con- flicts issues like these so troublesome is that ethical and business demands clash. Faced with what might be a conflict, the right thing may be to refuse a potential client or send an existing one to another lawyer, but that means losing revenue which is a tough thing to do. The ethics/business dilemma is not restricted to conflicts; it is pervasive in the practice of law. Mark Everson recently published a poignant op-ed piece on the issue in The New York Times. Everson, an accountant and former commission- er of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, wrote that once "the mission of the junior accountant or lawyer was clear to all: help clients adhere to professional standards and follow the law." Now, he says, accoun- tants and lawyers "see their practices not as independent firms that strengthen the integrity of capitalism, but as businesses measured chiefly by the earnings of their partners." Everson suggests this ethical sea of change throws into doubt such The seminal Read the 1964 Everson's piece in at case from the Supreme Court of Canada is online at case at Mark is LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under licence. PCLaw is a registered trademark of LexisNexis Practice Management Systems Inc. © 2011 LexisNexis Canada Inc. All rights reserved. fundamental concepts as attorney-client privilege as it applies to corporations. Ethical considerations often pull one way, business interests another. That's the biggest problem that most young lawyers will have to face, and the advice of senior lawyers may not be reliable in this mat- ter. So, I come back to my general point: listen to your inner voice. Have faith in your personal ethical instincts, and be suspicious of what legal sophisticates may present as the way of the world. Ethics is a deeply personal business, and you're as good a judge — maybe better — than anyone else. Philip Slayton has been dean of a law school and senior partner of a major Canadian law firm. His latest book is Mighty Judgment: How the Supreme Court of Canada Runs Your Life. Visit him online at philipslayton.com. Practice Management LexisNexis® PCLaw® Accounting software that SPEAKS LEGALESE. PCLaw® billing and accounting software combines what you need to track your time and money all in one system — from time and billing to trust accounting, cheque writing, financial statements, client identification and verification, automatic backup, offline file management, advanced reporting tools and more. Best of all, it's easy to use and ready to go to work instantly. Download and Try PCLaw for FREE* For more information, call 1-800-328-2898 or visit www.lexisnexis.ca/pclaw. * Download PCLaw free for 30 days. Certain conditions apply. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A U GUST 2011 17 ntitled-3 1 12/9/10 4:12:40 PM R. v. Neil en/2002/2002sc http://tin http://sc Jac yurl.c c.le xum.org/ OhioS T c70/2002scBELLIork c70.html. om/Jhe v om/e C T http://tin yurl.c O Y obellis wA Neersonarticle. v. . imes