Integrity and Rule of Law Critical for Country's Success, say Legal Experts

"Salt Lake City—The backbone of this country lies in its integrity and the respect of rule of law. While our system is not a perfect one, that culture is what makes other countries not only respect us, but also makes some want to learn from us. Those opinions were stated in a discussion Tuesday morning with nearly 25 legal veterans and professionals from across the state at the annual Utah Business legal roundtable.

The question was a rather philosophical one for the roundtable, which generally discusses topics in the industry such as digital privacy, how legal services are changing, the importance of pro bono work, etc. But with daily headlines seeming to show a country in turmoil, it was a question that “subsumes everything else,” said Richard Burbidge, managing partner at Burbidge | Mitchell.

“There’s a saying that if you have integrity, nothing else matters, and if you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters,” said Burbidge. “That applies to your governmental systems in the distribution of justice. The thing to understand is that it’s culture. We have a culture of democracy. It’s being attacked, but we have a culture of democracy respect of the rule of law.”

The average American’s faith in the judiciary system has been dropping, said Dickson Burton, managing shareholder at TaskBritt, P.C. Thankfully, Utah’s metrics are higher than “almost anywhere,” said Burton, but lawyers still need to be vigilant about educating the public on the way the legal system works—and that it actually does work..."

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