Introduction
Plagiarism can be termed referred to as the act of directly copying an individual’s work and presenting it as one’s own. Plagiarism can guarantee legal actions when it trespasses upon the original author’s patent, trademark, or copyright (Akbar 31). For an individual to avoid plagiarized work, they should always attribute information used to the original writer through citations or quotes. In the case of lawyers, they depend on form books written for a particular purpose that other attorneys may copy. Legal offices and law firms of all kinds maintain copies of pleadings and briefs for their lawyers to consult and reuse. These practices can be termed “plagiarism,” though they are expected and encouraged by the legal profession as effective and efficient lawyering. Cases such as the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Cannon provide a perspective on what constitutes unethical plagiarism in the litigation context bringing about several measures to be taken in such cases.
Reasons why Judges should Care in Case of Plagiarized Briefs Submission
Judges should be vigilant concerning the likelihood of the attorney plagiarizing legal briefs, as it is considered an ethical violation. Lawyer plagiarism crime will involve using another person’s work without giving them due credit for their work. The case involving Peter Cannon was one of the instances where plagiarism charges did not deal with flawed citation, though they included 17 pages being copied directly from an article (Charles et al. 1). Such distortion is an example of abusing ethical morals and rules. The attorney himself had also admitted that his action depicted dishonesty. Such a heinous crime should have been dealt with accordingly, with appropriate measures being imposed by the judge.
Attorney Cannon’s and Lanes’ Plagiarism Punishment Comparison
The two cases concerned with attorney plagiarism have their comparisons and some acceptable discrepancies that resulted in a more unembellished decision for one of the lawyers. The comparisons are why both attorneys were involved in compelling cases of plagiarism. As Cannon copied 17 of the 19-page article without citing or quoting, Lane, on the other hand, was involved in wholesale copying of a material that he used (Charles et al. 2). The distinction between the court’s proceedings regarding the two individuals’ cases lies where Cannon accepted responsibility for his actions immediately and also conveyed to his client about the mistake made. On the other hand, Lane had decided to hide the misconduct he had committed from the court, which played a crucial part in being imposed more severe punishment. Lane did not respond to court for months and tried to hide the plagiarized work (Charles et al. 2). Following Lane’s response to plagiarism charges by the court, the judges decided to suspend his license for six months and punish Cannon with a public reprimand.
I differ from the court’s reasoning of the two cases because plagiarism is a violation of any profession’s ethical and moral principles. Therefore, any individual involved in such a crime should be punished accordingly depending on the severity of the charges, not based on the court proceedings’ responses. In addition, to matters concerning plagiarism and receiving punishments such as public reprimands, I feel that such punishment is severe retribution for penalizing an attorney. Public reprimanding is less severe than suspension, and at some points, it can end a career since it may destroy the spirit of an individual willing to recover from a fall.
Conclusion
Plagiarism can attract severe punishment from a firm as it is considered a code violation act that involves copy-pasting other people’s work without quoting or citing and finally presenting it as one’s unique work. It may be considered legal under some circumstances, such as trespassing on the author’s copyright. Plagiarizing cases can be found in different organizations, such as law firms, illustrated by the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Cannon plagiarism case. Peter Cannon is being punished for 17 pages of article plagiarism, whereby he is subjected to a public reprimand. Therefore, it is to be evaded by all means when using someone’s information to avoid such punishments.
Works Cited
Akbar, Akbar. “Defining plagiarism: A literature review.”Ethical Lingua: Journal of Language Teaching and Literature 5.1 (2018): 31-38.
Charles, L, et al. “Findlaw’s Supreme Court of Iowa Case and Opinions.”Findlaw, (2010).