Empirical Studies of Ethical Values of Law Students in Australia and their Relevance to Asian Civil Law Countries

Abstract

Recent literature on legal ethics, professionalism and legal education has shown that little is known about the ethical values of civil law students in Asia, particularly law students in Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. This paper reports on the findings of two empirical studies on the values of law students undertaken by the author in Australia. It evaluates what values are empirically important in determining the decisions of law students in Australia towards different scenarios involving ethical dilemmas. It also explores the value orientations of law students and gender differences in the value hierarchies of law students in Australia. Finally, it evaluates the relevance of these studies on the values of Australian law students to similar empirical studies of values of law students in such Asian civil law countries like Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. This paper makes original contribution to the academic discourse on professional socialization of law schools and value system of law students in the Australasian Region. It also contribute to the teaching of legal ethics and professionalism as well as the reform of law school curriculum in this Region.