Ethics for Lawyers or Ethics for Citizens? New Directions for Legal Education

Abstract

The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct (ACLEC) has called for the reconstruction of the ethical foundations of legal education. However, it has not justified its premise that teaching legal values at the initial stage will enhance professional legal ethics. It is argued that the present system of education, given its technocratic, individualistic, and authoritarian tendencies, cannot meet ACLEC's challenge. A more ethical legal education can be envisaged within a neo-Aristotelian framework. This perspective emphasizes the reflexivity between micro and macro ethics, and utilizes the active and participatory learning approaches which should enable students to e..