Ansvaret för tillämpningen av vissa familjerättsliga skyddsregler : Om gränsen mellan opartiskhet och etisk plikt som jurist

Sammanfattning: Abstract Working as a lawyer demands not only legal skills, but also ethical ones due to the involvement with humans. The area of ethics is far from as regulated as the area of law is. The reasons for this are both historical – as the area of ethics is, in comparison with the practice of law, a relatively new area, especially combined with the traditional work of lawyers – and technical, since ethics is an area that seems difficult to regulate due to its adopting skills. Ethics looks different depending on which work area it addresses; who you ask; and in what situation it shall be enlightened. This essay’s purpose is to investigate where the border is between impartiality and ethical duty for a practising lawyer. In order to investigate this, two questions are raised: - To what extent can a lawyer give information about certain rules of protection before he is perceived as partial?- How much information about certain rules of protection, in favour of one part, can a lawyer withhold before passing the ethical duty? In order to answer the questions, the current law is established through the recognized sources of law. Ethical guidelines are studied through available materials, for example the ethical rules of the Swedish Bar and Law Association (SLBA). Limitations in the essay are made to only cover ethics within the work of a practising lawyer, and not ethics as its own subject. In order to concretize the difficulties, situations are used, when certain rules of protection within family law are applicable, especially in the situation of division of property. Lawyers’ work is regulated by law, 8’ ch. RB, together with codes of conduct drawn by the SLBA. In addition there is EU-legislation that provides fundamental frames for lawyers. Jurists (non-members of SLBA) are lacking regulation for their profession. For their legitimacy they should apply the rules for lawyers, especially the core values of loyalty, information and truth. In accordance with those core values, the ethical duties towards clients and counter parts are rather extensive. This calls for a lawyer or a jurist to inform about rules of protection in most cases, and they cannot withhold such information without risking violation of the ethical code of conduct.