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CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Rule 221 (s. 6(8), Legal Profession Act)
All members shall conduct their practice in accordance with:
(a) the Yukon Code of Professional Conduct as amended from time to time; and
(b) the Code of Conduct adopted by the Canadian Bar Association, as amended from time to time, where it is not inconsistent with the Yukon Code of Professional Conduct.
YUKON CODE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
PREAMBLE
The legal profession has developed over the centuries to meet a public need for legal services on a professional basis, that is to say, the provision of advice and representation respecting the protection or advancement of the rights, liberties, and property of a person by a trusted adviser with whom such person has a personal relationship and whose integrity, competence and loyalty are assured.
In order adequately to meet this need for legal services, lawyers and the quality of the service they provide must command the confidence and respect of the public, and that can only be achieved by their establishing and maintaining a reputation for integrity, competence and for high standards of legal skill and care.
In fulfilling their professional responsibilities lawyers must necessarily assume various roles that require the performance of many difficult tasks. Not every situation which lawyers may encounter can be foreseen, but the fundamental ethical principles are set out in this Code as a guide and to provide a framework within which lawyers must with courage and ability undertake to provide the legal services which an ever changing and complex society requires.
Although each lawyer must decide the extent to which his or her conduct should rise above the minimum standards, the desire for the respect and confidence of the members of The Law Society and the public which lawyers serve should motivate a lawyer to maintain the highest possible degree of ethical conduct.
The standards of professional conduct of lawyers represent the greatest strength of the legal profession; it must not and will not permit any compromise of those standards.
The Code of Professional Conduct, which follows, can only be understood and applied in the light of its primary concern for the protection of the public interest. Inevitably the practical application of the Code's complex provisions to the diverse situations confronted by an active profession in a changing society will reveal gaps, ambiguities and apparent inconsistencies. The principle of protection of the public interest will serve to guide the reader to the true intent of the Code.