Giving Voice to Values (GVV)1 Addressing an Ethical

dilemma/conflict in Ready for Practice

Background
Ethical and/or values conflicts are an inherent part of legal practice - just as they are in any
profession. Yet behavioural ethics tells us that in order to be able to respond to ethical
situations in an ethical manner, we need to have skills that go beyond knowing the ethical
rules, and being able to identify ethical conflicts. We also know that feeling like you have
the ability to act on your values/ethical obligations can assist in promoting your wellbeing at
work.

In the Professional Practice Core you had the opportunity to consider how to apply the
Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum to an ethical dilemma involving a Statement of
Adjustments. You have also had the opportunity to read and/or watch the Giving Voice to
Values resources to introduce you to this approach to responding effectively and
constructively to ethical challenges. In this task, you will now apply this process to an ethical
issue/conflict of interest to you by filling in a worksheet and submitting it, and attending a
web conference.

Task Instructions
In this task you will need to identify an ethical dilemma that you encountered in the GDLP
and/or your legal placement or workplace. The below worksheet will step you through the
process of developing a different approach to this conflict/dilemma that empowers you to
act should you encounter similar circumstances in the future. The task will culminate in an
opportunity, through web conferencing, to practice your dialogue plan with constructive
feedback from a legal practitioner mentor and up to three of your student colleagues.

The steps required for this task are:

1. Complete this worksheet and submit it to the assessment dropbox in Wattle.

2. Book a web conference time in Wattle. Conferences are held in weeks 2 and 3.
3. Attend and participate in your booked web conference through the Adobe Connect
Room provided. You will workshop your dialogue plan and the dialogue plans of your
student colleagues. The web conference will be an hour in length and you will need
to be in attendance for the whole web conference to achieve the CRS for this task.

1All references to the GVV throughout this document and the worksheets is reference to
Gentile, M., Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know Whats Right,
Yale University Press and http://www.darden.virginia.edu/ibis/initiatives/giving-voice-to-
values/
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 4. After your webconference, reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your dialogue
and consider uploading it into your Portfolio.

Important: A note on the ethical dilemma you discuss

1. Ensure that the dilemma is one that involves you having to speak up to another person.
2. Ensure that you do not breach confidentiality or legal professional privilege as you
describe and discuss your dilemma. You have ethical, professional and other duties to
clients and your workplace. Accordingly, you must de-identify any clients, departments or
people. And you should change circumstances so that no one else could work out who you
are referring to. Remember that people from your GDLP may recognise you by where you
work, and piece information together. Also, that your identity is public and sometimes
information can be pieced together in that way too.

Being able to maintain confidentiality is a key skill as a lawyer and so too is self-evaluation,
and you are now only weeks from admission to practice. Please read this information,
particularly the section How to de-identify to help you with any de-identification that you
need to undertake.
3. Choose a scenario where you would like to work out how to voice your own values.
4. If you dont have an idea about a dilemma, or you are not able to de-identify your scenario
adequately, you could make one up that you envisage could happen, or you could contact
Pamela for a scenario: Pamela.Taylor-Barnett@anu.edu.au.

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Worksheet

PART 1 - DESCRIBE AND EVALUATE THE CONFLICT/DILEMMA

1. Describe the Ethical conflict/dilemma in detail2 (Keeping in mind that this

detail should not breach confidentiality or legal privilege if it relates to a
matter you worked on in placement/workplace.)

2. Evaluate and explain the impact that the conflict/dilemma had upon you
intellectually, physically and emotionally. Has it had any other impacts?

3. Examine, assess and evaluate what you have learned from the
conflict/dilemma.

2 Modified and excerpted from Spencer, R (2014) Holding up the Mirror. International
Journal on Clinical Legal Education, 18, 215
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PART 2 EXAMINE HOW TO APPROACH THE DILEMMA/CONFLICT
DIFFERENTLY
4. In the ideal world, where you abide completely by both the spirit and the
letter of your ethical considerations as lawyer, what would have been your
desired outcome to this ethical dilemma/conflict.

NOW, IN ORDER TO PROCEED WITH A GVV APPROACH ASSUME:

You are going to proceed in a way that achieved your desired, most ethical
outcome
You dont think it is OK to just ignore the error/issue.
You have decided to speak up (i.e. act) about this. If you choose to speak to
someone else first, say so, but you must also plan to speak up to the person(s)
at the heart of the dilemma/conflict.

Now respond to the questions below to consider your approach for speaking up in
this situation. (Note that speaking up may involve a number of steps and dont
always involve having a conversation. You could choose to gather evidence/allies
and take a strategic approach to dealing with the issue.

NAME ISSUE AND RESEARCH THE LAW

5. Name the issue(s) in this scenario and research the law. What is the
relevant law in relation to this type of situation?

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VALUES AND PERSONAL STYLE REMINDER

6. Consider your professional/personal values that you considered during the

PPC Getting Started work and/or GVV exercise. Are there any particular
values that may motivate you to take action in this situation?

7. Consider your answers to Part 1, what might enable you to voice your
values or, alternatively, make you disinclined to act?

8. Will you ask questions or make statements in addressing this situation?

Why would you take this approach?

9. Will you seek out allies to assist you in acting? Why or why not? If so, who
would your allies be?

10.Could you reframe the problem to empower yourself to act? How?

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STAKEHOLDERS

11.Who are the key stakeholders? What is at stake for them?

STAKEHOLDER WHAT IS AT STAKE?

REASONs, RATIONALISATIONS AND LEVERS

12. Consider the following questions to help you consider the reasons,
rationalisations and levers you may encounter
a. What are the main reasons or rationalisation the people involved may express or
imply to justify their behaviour when questioned? What are your most powerful
and persuasive responses to the reasons and rationalisation? Consider the
resources on reasons and rationalisations. Remember it is possible that the
person is not thinking about the ethics of the situation, but is motivated by a
strategic need that is blinding them to their ethical obligations.
b. Consider whether the person you are talking to expects everyone to just do what
they say without questioning them? If so, how can you frame the situation when
talking to them to address this?
c. Do you need to ask for more information before assuming that the person
intends to breach their professional obligations?
d. Could you reframe the problem in terms of the reputation of the firm or
obligations to the client/case or code of conduct rules?

REASON/RATIONALISATION LEVER/COUNTER-RESPONSE

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PLAN YOUR CONVERSATION - CREATE A DIALOGUE TREE

13.Who will you speak to? When and in what context? Consider if you need to
talk to more than one person. In what order might you approach them?

14. Plan your conversation. Create a dialogue tree, or flow chart,of how you
would like the conversation to proceed.
a. Consider how you may start the conversation.
b. Describe the conversation (a flow chart, even hand written and scanned, is often
effective for this)
c. Consider the tangents your plan will need to consider. If the partner gives one
justification, then you will respond with a particular comment, whereas if they
give another, you will respond with a different comment, and so on.
d. Keep in mind your own personal style for successfully addressing conflict

SUBMIT THIS WORKSHEET TO THE ASSESSMENT DROPBOX

PRACTISE THE DIALOGUE

15.Book a webconference with a Mentor. This conference will be conducted in

groups of 2-3. Select a booking on the Wattle site.

16.Discuss your dialogue plan with your mentor in RFP and your student
colleagues in your booked webconference

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 It can be one thing to rehearse in your head what you are going to say, but there is
great value in practising what you are going to say out loud with someone you can
trust. In fact it is this practise with someone else that provides you with the muscle
memory for how to act in a similar situation in the future.

REFLECT

17.Reflect: what were the strengths of your dialogue plan? What things might
you still need to address?

When you have finished this reflective piece, you may wish to include this
worksheet in your portfolio. There is no Wattle dropbox for this part of the
task.