Guido Alpa & Alarico Mariani Marini 
Professional ethics and the social responsibility of European Lawyers 

The legal profession has been urged to reflect on the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) since the end of the eighties when some blatant human rights violations by transnational companies imposed, on public opinion, the issue of a call to ethics in finance and in the market.The legal profession could not in fact remain insensitive to this phenomenon because of its historical vocation to defend rights and because the activity of the lawyer in modern society is more frequently in contiguity with the company’s activities. Therefore it is believed that alongside CSR there is a social responsibility of the lawyer, not only in promoting, in the case, the respect for the rule of law and the values underlying the European Charters of human and fundamental rights, but also to establish the purpose of the professional activity, alongside the protection of the interests and rights of the assisted party, the protection of the human rights of the individual, of other people, of the society. The proceedings of the Third European Conference in Rome represent a message to lawyers for the realization of this new frontier of professional ethics .