Jonathan Herring provides a clear and engaging overview of legal ethics, highlighting the ethical issues surrounding professional conduct and raising interesting questions about how lawyers act and what their role entails. Key topics, such as confidentiality and fees, are covered with references throughout to the professional codes of conduct.

Jonathan Herring writes on criminal, family and medical law, as well as legal ethics. He researches how the law relates with the things that matter most to us. Our family, our friends, our bodies. His writing questions the assumption that we are capable, independent, self-sufficient, autonomous people who need legal rights to protect us from invasion from others. Instead, he suggests we are profoundly vulnerable and interdependent. He has written over 250 books and articles on a wide range of issues including caring; vulnerable adults; older people; children's rights; marriage; ownership of body parts; pregnancy; rape; and disability. He also has experience of working with the media, including broadcast work with BBC Radio 4 and 5.

• 1: Ethical theories


• 2: The social context of the legal profession


• 3: Gender, race, and diversity in the legal profession


• 4: The regulation of the legal profession


• 5: The lawyer-client relationship


• 6: Confidentiality


• 7: Conflicts of interests


• 8: Fees


• 9: Negligence and lawyers


• 10: Litigation


• 11: Alternative dispute resolution


• 12: Third parties


• 13: Business ethics


• 14: Lawyers' social responsibilities


• 15: Applying ethical theories