Sylvie Delacroix (University of Birmingham – Birmingham Law School; The Alan Turing Institute) has posted Professional Responsibility: Conceptual Rescue and Plea for Reform on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Provided one accepts that there may be a discrepancy between the sociological sphere of the professions and the scope of professional responsibility as an ethical and legal concept, the latter may be rescued from its current maelstrom. Why? Because what calls for distinct, professional responsibility is a feature of the lay-professional relationship -a situational, ‘sense of self’ vulnerability- that is not present in some ‘professional’ occupations (from commercial lawyers to accountants). For as long as knowledge asymmetry continues to be deemed the defining characteristic of the lay-professional relationship, the courts’ delineation of obligations meant to address lay vulnerability will too frequently end up compounding the layperson’s non-epistemic, ‘sense of self’ vulnerability. The proposed re-conceptualisation of professional responsibility calls for reform on several fronts: among these, an expanded ‘duty to consult’ (beyond do-not-resuscitate-orders) is uniquely placed as a justiciable criterion capable of addressing such ‘sense of self’ vulnerability.