General Query

[Vishal Singh]

What would be your approach in the following questions?

1) My senior asked me to cover for him on his timesheet report to inflate the bill charged to the client. Should I do it?

2) You are the finance director at an MNC Company with 500+ employees. The company has been under a lot of pressure recently, and everyone knows that it’s important for the future of the business that the annual report shows a healthy financial performance. The CEO approaches you and tells you that you should leave a large loan and advances off this year’s report and include it next year; the report goes out on 31 March. The CEO informs you that a poor financial outlook could threaten jobs at the company, including your own. The CEO is asking you to produce misleading reports and if you were to produce the report in the way the CEO has asked, falsely moving loans and advances into the next financial year, you would be in breach of the Code of Ethics as well as the Companies Act. Producing the misleading reports would also create a major risk to the company. It would be fraudulent, and the company could face legal action if discovered. What would you do in this instant case?

 

[Jacob Miller]

Hi @Vishal Singh

These sorts of questions are designed to put you in a morally challenging situation to assess your professional integrity. Remember that integrity is a key part of being a solicitor- indeed, it makes up one of the core points of SRA practice rules.

To that end, when I was posed with questions such as yours, I always identified that, as a solicitor, I am bound by certain constraints imposed by SRA practice rules. I would, to that end, decline to carry out any activity which would compromise that.

For the first question, assuming it is within a solicitors' firm, I would advise my senior that I was unable to for the reasons above, and remind him/ her that the conduct they're asking me to commit is in breach of the said regulations, as it would be for them to orchestrate such conduct. You may also wish to consider whether you would be duty bound to act within the firm's whistleblowing policy to report the conduct.

The second scenario you describe is slightly more challenging insofar as it's the CEO of the company who has asked you to commit the fraudulent conduct. I would personally follow a similar structure: first, highlighting the fact that it would be in breach of the professional ethics code and actually illegal. Secondly, I would advise the CEO, as an expert on the issue due to my position as finance director, that it would constitute such a breach of ethics and law, and ask whether he/ she was aware of that. If they nonetheless persisted, I would be forced to advise them that I was unable to do so and then consider whether I would be duty bound to report the conduct to the appropriate watchdog/ complaints body/ police etc.

 

[Jaysen]

Hi @Vishal Singh

These sorts of questions are designed to put you in a morally challenging situation to assess your professional integrity. Remember that integrity is a key part of being a solicitor- indeed, it makes up one of the core points of SRA practice rules.

To that end, when I was posed with questions such as yours, I always identified that, as a solicitor, I am bound by certain constraints imposed by SRA practice rules. I would, to that end, decline to carry out any activity which would compromise that.

For the first question, assuming it is within a solicitors' firm, I would advise my senior that I was unable to for the reasons above, and remind him/ her that the conduct they're asking me to commit is in breach of the said regulations, as it would be for them to orchestrate such conduct. You may also wish to consider whether you would be duty bound to act within the firm's whistleblowing policy to report the conduct.

The second scenario you describe is slightly more challenging insofar as it's the CEO of the company who has asked you to commit the fraudulent conduct. I would personally follow a similar structure: first, highlighting the fact that it would be in breach of the professional ethics code and actually illegal. Secondly, I would advise the CEO, as an expert on the issue due to my position as finance director, that it would constitute such a breach of ethics and law, and ask whether he/ she was aware of that. If they nonetheless persisted, I would be forced to advise them that I was unable to do so and then consider whether I would be duty bound to report the conduct to the appropriate watchdog/ complaints body/ police etc.

Great points from Jacob. In additional to the professional risks, you might also want to consider touching on the personal consequences. Why is it important to you to have integrity in your career? What kind of lawyer do you want to be?