The Concept of Professional Ethics and Debates on Professional Ethics in the Legal Profession: The Case of Ankara

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which professional ethics, which is a criterion of professionalism, is realized for public sector lawyers and corporate lawyers (including lawyers working in law offices) and for self-employed lawyers, and to compare and evaluate the findings. This study examined how the problem of professional ethics in the practice of law is handled according to the professional status of lawyers (self-employed, public and corporate), and it aims to contribute to the literature by focusing on both the perceptions and expectations of the two groups regarding professional ethics. The findings obtained from the research were evaluated by considering the Attorneys’ Act, the Code of Professional Conduct, and professional practices. It was observed that there is a significant difference between perceptions and expectations of all lawyers participating in the research, without a distinction between public sector and corporate or self-employed, regarding compliance with professional ethics. When the professional ethics perceptions of self-employed lawyers and of public sector and corporate lawyers are compared, no significant difference is found. However, in terms of professional ethical expectations, it is observed that there are significant differences between the two groups regarding some ethical dimensions.