Ethical Conduct in Public Officer - meeting the test of rectitude

 No one really is above the law, however that law is defined. As persons in the public eye, where as a Judge, Adjudicator, lawyer, Police Officer, Government Minister or even Influencer, we can be subjected to excessive scrutiny in terms of our actions and/or omissions. Obviously, it calls for some risk management in our personal and professional lives. In my professional life we call it "defensive lawyering", which means dotting the i's and crossing the T's. In our private lives it involves risk management or avoiding situations that can embarrass our profession, employer, family and friends. if one is living a risky lifestyle the odds of things going terribly wrong is greater given the obvious pitfalls.

This calls for an understanding that we are under a greater level of scrutiny. I know that as a lawyer of prominence whose images are flashed on televisions and who appears in newspapers and the internet more often that I like. It means that I can't do some of the things I would like to do or go to some of the places where I can socialize with people that I like.

I also know that as a Black man with dreadlocks if things go south I would be held to a higher standard: See, for example, Law Society of Ontario v. Guiste, 2023 ONLSTH 59 (CanLII), <https://canlii.ca/t/jwx9r>. See also my writings on the plight of Black lawyers in Selwyn Pieters, “Lawyer Regulation, Race and Justice: An updated Look at LSUC disciplinary matters involving Black and Visible Minority lawyers.” Selwyn Pieters : A Blog That is Organized Around the Lawyering Experience of Criminal and Human Rights Lawyer Selwyn Pieters and Things that Interest Him!!!!! (blog)12 December 2014, <http://selwynpieters.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-updated-look-at-lsuc-disciplinary.html> and Selwyn Pieters “Lawyer Regulation, Race and Justice”; Law Society of Upper Canada v. Selwyn Milan McSween, 2012 ONLSAP 003 <http://selwynpieters.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-updated-look-at-lsuc-disciplinary.html>

The task therefore is for us to recognize this and in so doing for us to meet the test of rectitude because we are constantly under public scrutiny.