Business Ethics and Legal Ethics: The Connections and Disconnections Between the Two Disciplines

In the opening pages of her volume, Business Ethics and Legal Ethics: The Connections and Disconnections Between the Two Disciplines, academic Vanisha H. Sukdeo asks a pointed question: “From those who use their legal knowledge to help others such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, to those who choose to focus on the work for profit alone, there is great variety among lawyers and businesspersons when it comes to ethics and morals. Where does the definition of ‘ethics’ fit and how does it change shape from one discipline to another?”

Sukdeo devotes the rest of her text to a discussion of this question and in so doing aims to fill a gap in the literature between what is taught at business schools with respect to business ethics and what is taught in law schools about legal ethics. As she states, students enrolled in JD and MBA programs “should be able to appreciate the responsibilities and duties that they will have when they become businesspeople and/or lawyers.” By providing an overview of the structure of ethics in both business and law, Sukdeo offers much-needed clarity on the intersection between the two disciplines.

A Novel Approach
Business Ethics and Legal Ethics: The Connections and Disconnections Between the Two Disciplines should be essential reading for:

• Students in Canadian JD, MBA or joint programs who need to appreciate and learn the difference between ethics in different circumstances
• Executives with legal backgrounds who must understand their legal and business ethical obligations and how they interact
• Corporate lawyers in private practice and in-house counsel who advise clients about surrounding legal and business ethics in certain circumstances
• Legal scholars who can leverage the content for research purposes