Legal professional ethics: the societal, legal and ethical constitution of the legal profession

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Funke
• Subject Area: Principles of Law and Jurisprudence
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 577222390

Legal professional ethics is a field of teaching and research that deals with the requirements for conduct associated with typical legal professions (in particular: judges, lawyers, administrative officials). There are currently no systematic studies of legal professional ethics in Germany. However, there is a considerable need for this for various reasons: (1) Jurisprudence is not only an argumentative technique and a doctrine of practical wisdom (i.e. jurisprudence), but also a profession. In this sense, the law is administered by the ‘legal profession’ in a sense. However, existing research and teaching formats do not adequately reflect this characteristic. Both traditional basic subjects, including legal methodology, and dogmatic research primarily refer to law as a subject matter and not to what lawyers actually do in practice. (2) The subject matter of legal professions, namely law, is changing: while law has always dealt with social problems (such as crime), it is also the arena for new social tensions. Examples include the increasing importance of strategic litigation, the political polarisation of professional roles (e.g. ‘right-wing judges’) and the tendency towards criminal conflict defence. There is a lack of systematic, comprehensive reflection on the challenges associated with this. (3) This is probably one of the reasons why, in the 2017 amendment to the German Judges Act, which regulates the core content of legal education (both university studies and legal clerkships), the federal legislature stipulated in Section 5a that the content of university studies should now take into account the ethical foundations of law. This requirement complements the existing core subjects such as legal philosophy and legal methodology. In this context, it was also explicitly stipulated that the compulsory subjects should also include an examination of the injustices of National Socialism and the SED dictatorship. The amendment emphasises the importance of ethical reflection in legal education. (4) Questions relevant to professional ethics are often discussed in the context of specific role challenges. The relevant publications found in special journals are correspondingly scattered. Some dissertations have recently undertaken initial in-depth analyses. A systematic structuring of the field has not yet taken place. It is extremely difficult to gain an overview. The potential that lies in establishing an interconnection between the various approaches is currently not being exploited. There is therefore a large gap that the network aims to close.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks