Every attorney at law shall:
(1) observe and carry out the terms of the attorney's oath;
(2) maintain the respect due to courts of justice and judicial officers;
(3) counsel or maintain such causes only as appear to the attorney legal and just; but the attorney shall not refuse to defend any person accused of a public offense;
(4) employ, for the maintenance of causes confided to the attorney, such means only as are consistent with truth, and never seek to mislead the judges by any artifice or false statement of fact or law;
(5) keep inviolate the confidences of the attorney's client, abstain from offensive personalities, and advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or witness, unless the justice of the cause requires it;
(6) encourage the commencement or continuation of no action or proceeding from motives of passion or interest; nor shall the attorney, for any personal consideration, reject the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.
History:(5688) RL s 2281; 1986 c 444