GR AYA NEWS THE PROFESSIONAL ETHICS EXAM

1 26 GRAYA NEWSE thics is, by its nature, a tough subject. To satisfy theexaminers by giving answers which are often subjectiveis not easy. However, as veterans of last year s difficultethics paper, we can at least share with you the methodswhich helped us to pass. There are three things to mentionbefore giving our advice:1 The ETHICS exam is not like a law degree module. You donot get points for demonstrating flair or originality in youranalysis, nor in citing precedent or academic the contrary: your job is to mention as many of thekey words and phrases the examiners will have listed on asheet of paper in front of them, so that they can give you asmany of the corresponding marks as revises differently (there is no magic one size fitsall formula, unfortunately), so some of the below are OF MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS3In March 2016 the BSB announced that a new style EthicsExam will be set from 2017 onwards.

2 The change is theabolition of the multiple choice form of questions. Insteadthe exam will consist of six short answer questions. Thesame two-hour time limit will be allowed for the ADVICE Learn the key parts of the BSB Code of Conduct by heartand verbatim. The examiners have a prescribed markingscheme that rewards precise citing of the Code s rules andguidance, rather than the gist of the rules (which may not getany marks at all in many cases). Something very important which is not made clear by allBPTC providers is that there is a lot of BSB guidance onprofessional ETHICS that you might be examined on that liesoutside the Code of Conduct, such as how to handle themedia and the Farquharson guidelines for prosecutingadvocates.

3 This material is listed in the current version of theBSB BPTC Handbook(it should come up with a Googlesearch), under the chapter dedicated to PROFESSIONAL ETHICS . One useful revision strategy might be to condense theCode of Conduct into the rules you ll need to remember forthe exam (ensuring to get the precise wording correct). Youmight find it helpful to go through with a highlighter therules you consider potentially important to learn for theexam and any guidance that fills them out when they aredrafted in vague terms. You should be careful to distinguishthe different levels of hierarchy within the Code: Core Duties Conduct Rules Outcomes GuidanceThis will be important for multiple choice questions (still setin 2016), where the cunning examiner may set a number oftraps distinguishing between must and may , for type out the rules and guidance you ve highlighted,which provides you with a set of condensed notes to revisefrom, as well as getting the content into your head, as youre-read, type and re-format them.

4 Another useful revision technique is to devisehypothetical scenarios and then apply the rules to answerwhat you would do in such scenarios. We utilised thisstrategy and then shared our scenarios and suggestedanswers in a couple of group sessions. It is always interestingto see how others would reason through difficult ethicalproblems: you probably won t all agree on the end result,but you should be able to identify the correct rules throughthem. Ideally you should have worked through as many mockpapers as you could find. For some reason, the BSB do notprovide past papers, which is unhelpful.

5 There are, however,a number of ways around this. First, your BPTC provider willhave set a number of example questions. Secondly, the BSBhave provided two mock exams , which are available throughyour course provider (warning: these are, misleadingly,easier than the real things). Thirdly, you can ask your friendsat other BPTC providers to swap mock papers/classquestions with you (with suggested answers) and answerthem (without your notes) under timed conditions. Last year,City had numerous, very useful, mock exams and a databaseof multiple choice questions; University of Law had a usefulbooklet of short answer questions and answers; and BPP hadsome very useful class questions.

6 It is still not too late tolook again at some mock PROFESSIONAL ETHICS EXAMADVICE FROM RUTH, JACK AND NATALIE The Bar Council has an FAQ style bank of questions,which is a helpful way to get further into the correct frameof mind in order to balance ethical conundrums and reachthe correct, BSB-approved, answer. The link can be found at: *Very Important:Memorise the Core Duties! There areonly 10 of them, and you can guarantee that you will needto write these out word for word more than once over thecourse of the exam (we advise you do so in every shortanswer question ). With the Core Duties at your fingertips,you will be able to perform the key strategy we wereadvised to deploy for short answer questions during theexam: the Core Duties Dump (see next tip).

7 Key Exam Technique Tip: The Core Duties Dump entailsstarting your answer to a short answer question by writing: The potential core duties engaged include: .. listing all theapplicable Core Duties. Once you have done that, you canbegin your next paragraph by providing more detail as towhy each of the Core Duties you have mentioned arerelevant, together with the correct approach for balancingthe ethical conundrum (using the more specific rulesprovided in the body of the Code of Conduct). For short answer questions, your written answers shouldmention: Core Duties, Conduct Rules, Outcomes andObjectives of the Code of Conduct.

8 You should aim at citingverbatim as many of the applicable Core Duties and keyConduct Rules as possible and then APPLY them. The Rulesare very abstract and often do not contain, in themselves,the precise answer required of you in the exam: you need toreason through and explain your answer (much like a mathsexam where you have to show your working) to reason andbalance competing views. With the old style multiple choice questions, the power ofdeduction was the key. Once you had removed the plainlyincorrect options, you were left with the real conundrum ofdeciding which answer the BSB had in mind.

9 Unfortunately,you were likely to encounter some poorly drafted, or evenimpossible, questions which the BSB later discountedentirely when marking the papers. Students sitting the lastmultiple choice paper this summer are advised not to lingertoo long on any specific multiple choice question putdown your best answer, and move on. In the exam, you need to time yourself carefully. Weadvise students re-sitting the exam in 2016 to answer themultiple choice questions first, as it is easier to stop andmove on, compared to short answer questions, where thetemptation is to keep writing and hope these tips provide some useful insight of what isexpected of you in the exam and will help you pass withflying Kennedy, Jack Williams, Natalie Bird27 GRAYA NEWS