Ethics
Ethics Tip 4: Ethics in the Face of Urgency: Navigating Professional Integrity
Picture this: A senior partner in your firm comes to you with a document. He tells you that the document relates to his purchase of a new home for his family. The document is placed before you and the partner signs the document. At that point, you notice that someone else’s signature is also on the document. He says that the signature is that of his wife, that he had witnessed her signing the documents and that she was in the office earlier, but he had omitted to call you in to witness her signature. You had also seen her leaving the office earlier. He wants you to sign as witness to both signatures. He says its urgent as the document must to be sent over to the vendor’s solicitors by 4 pm and it is already 3.30 pm.
What are your thoughts: There is an element of urgency, and you can’t call the wife back to re-sign the document. The partner is your superior and he may not take it well if you refuse to sign the document.
Your reaction: It is not appropriate for you to purport to witness the signature of the wife as she did not sign the document before you. You would be falsely attesting that the wife signed the document before you. That would be dishonest. You must refuse to witness the wife’s signature even though this may incur the wrath of the partner and may even possibly cause him some loss or difficulty in the property transaction.
To explore further consider the case of Law Society v Chia Choon Yang [2018] 5 SLR 1068 click here.
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