Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to examine the importance of codes of ethics for legal professions. Such documents may be a unifying factor in professional practice.
Hence, numerous relevant arguments in favour of and against codes of ethics are presented, alongside the distinction between principle-based and rule-based approaches. In the second part, the situation in the Czech Republic is analysed in detail, with special focus on how the codes are treated in the practice of the professions.
The analysis leads to a common conclusion, which may be the most important point surrounding codes of ethics, even if it is somewhat banal. That is, to ascertain whether a code of ethics benefits the profession, it is not sufficient to think about it in general categories; instead, we must examine the content and overall status of each specific code and to observe more closely the practice of its usage.