Colo. RPC pmbl.

[1] A lawyer, as a member of the legal profession, is a representative of clients, an

officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality

of justice.

[2] As a representative of clients, a lawyer performs various functions. As advisor, a

lawyer provides a client with an informed understanding of the client’s legal rights and

obligations and explains their practical implications. As advocate, a lawyer zealously

asserts the client’s position under the rules of the adversary system. As negotiator, a lawyer

seeks a result advantageous to the client but consistent with requirements of honest

dealings with others. As an evaluator, a lawyer acts by examining a client’s legal affairs

and reporting about them to the client or to others.

[3] In addition to these representational functions, a lawyer may serve as a third-party

neutral, a nonrepresentational role helping the parties to resolve a dispute or other matter.

Some of these Rules apply directly to lawyers who are or have served as third-party

neutrals. See, e.g., Rules 1.12 and 2.4. In addition, there are Rules that apply to lawyers

who are not active in the practice of law or to practicing lawyers even when they are acting

in a nonprofessional capacity. For example, a lawyer who commits fraud in the conduct of

a business is subject to discipline for engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud,

deceit or misrepresentation. See Rule 8.4.

[4] In all professional functions a lawyer should be competent, prompt and diligent. A

lawyer should maintain communication with a client concerning the representation. A

lawyer should keep in confidence information relating to representation of a client except

so far as disclosure is required or permitted by the Rules of Professional Conduct or other

law.

[5] A lawyer’s conduct should conform to the requirements of the law, both in

professional service to clients and in the lawyer’s business and personal affairs. A lawyer

should use the law’s procedures only for legitimate purposes and not to harass or

intimidate others. A lawyer should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those

who serve it, including judges, other lawyers and public officials. While it is a lawyer’s

duty, when necessary, to challenge the rectitude of official action, it is also a lawyer’s duty

to uphold legal process.

[6] As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, access to the

legal system, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal

profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of

the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work

to strengthen legal education. In addition, a lawyer should further the public’s understanding of and confidence in the rule of law and the justice system because legal institutions in

a constitutional democracy depend on popular participation and support to maintain their

authority. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of

the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate

legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers should devote professional time and resources and

use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because

of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel. A lawyer

should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar

regulate itself in the public interest.

[7] Many of a lawyer’s professional responsibilities are prescribed in the Rules of

Professional Conduct, as well as substantive and procedural law. However, a lawyer is also

guided by personal conscience and the approbation of professional peers. A lawyer should

strive to attain the highest level of skill, to improve the law and the legal profession and to

exemplify the legal profession’s ideals of public service.

[8] A lawyer’s responsibilities as a representative of clients, an officer of the legal

system and a public citizen are usually harmonious. Thus, when an opposing party is well

represented, a lawyer can be a zealous advocate on behalf of a client and at the same time

assume that justice is being done. So also, a lawyer can be sure that preserving client

confidences ordinarily serves the public interest because people are more likely to seek

legal advice, and thereby heed their legal obligations, when they know their communications will be private.

[9] In the nature of law practice, however, conflicting responsibilities are encountered.

Virtually all difficult ethical problems arise from conflict between a lawyer’s responsibilities to clients, to the legal system and to the lawyer’s own interest in remaining an ethical

person while earning a satisfactory living. The Rules of Professional Conduct often

prescribe terms for resolving such conflicts. Within the framework of these Rules, however, many difficult issues of professional discretion can arise. Such issues must be

resolved through the exercise of sensitive professional and moral judgment guided by the

basic principles underlying the Rules. These principles include the lawyer’s obligation

zealously to protect and pursue a client’s legitimate interests, within the bounds of the law.

Zealousness does not, under any circumstances, justify conduct that is unprofessional,

discourteous or uncivil toward any person involved in the legal system.

[10] The legal profession is largely self-governing. Although other professions also

have been granted powers of self-government, the legal profession is unique in this respect

because of the close relationship between the profession and the processes of government

and law enforcement. This connection is manifested in the fact that ultimate authority over

the legal profession is vested largely in the courts.

[11] To the extent that lawyers meet the obligations of their professional calling, the

occasion for government regulation is obviated. Self-regulation also helps maintain the

legal profession’s independence from government domination. An independent legal profession is an important force in preserving government under law, for abuse of legal

authority is more readily challenged by a profession whose members are not dependent on

government for the right to practice.

[12] The legal profession’s relative autonomy carries with it special responsibilities of

self-government. The profession has a responsibility to assure that its regulations are

conceived in the public interest and not in furtherance of parochial or self-interested

concerns of the bar. Every lawyer is responsible for observance of the Rules of Professional Conduct. A lawyer should also aid in securing their observance by other lawyers.

Neglect of these responsibilities compromises the independence of the profession and the

public interest which it serves.

[13] Lawyers play a vital role in the preservation of society. The fulfillment of this role

requires an understanding by lawyers of their relationship to our legal system. The Rules of

Professional Conduct, when properly applied, serve to define that relationship.