Georgia § 15-19-4 - Duties of attorneys.

§ 15-19-4. Duties of attorneys.

It is the duty of attorneys at law: To maintain the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers; To employ, for the purpose of maintaining the causes confided to them, such means only as are consistent with truth and never to seek to mislead the judges or juries by any artifice or false statement of the law; To maintain inviolate the confidence and, at every peril to themselves, to preserve the secrets of their clients; To abstain from all offensive personalities and to advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or a witness unless required by the justice of the cause with which they are charged; To encourage neither the commencement nor the continuance of an action or proceeding from any motives of passion or interest; and Never to reject, for a consideration personal to themselves, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. (Orig. Code 1863, § 391; Code 1868, § 452; Code 1873, § 417; Code 1882, § 417; Civil Code 1895, § 4427; Civil Code 1910, § 4965; Code 1933, § 9-601.) Cross references. - Establishment of attorney-client privilege, § 24-5-501 . Editor's notes. - In light of the inherent power of the judiciary to regulate the bar, this section is directory only. See Wallace v. Wallace, 225 Ga. 102 , 166 S.E.2d 718 (1969) and Sams v. Olah, 225 Ga. 497 , 169 S.E.2d 790 (1969). See also the Code of Professional Responsibility in the Rules and Regulations for Organization and Government of the State Bar of Georgia. Administrative Rules and Regulations. - Appearance by attorneys; signing of pleadings, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Office of State Administrative Hearings, Administrative Rules of Procedure, Rule 616-1-2-.34. Law reviews. - For article, "Legal Ethics and the Lawyer's Duty of Loyalty," see 29 Emory L.J. 909 (1981). For article, "Toward a Parent-Inclusive Attorney-Client Privilege," see 53 Ga. L. Rev. 991 (2019). For note, "Conflicts of Interest in the Liability Insurance Setting," 13 Ga. L. Rev. 973 (1979).