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Ethical Mindfulness (PDF)

Ethical Mindfulness (PDF)

Overview

If you’re like most people about to take a job (or hoping for one) in the financial services industry, you think of yourself as having decent moral character. You’ve also heard plenty from acquaintances and in the media about rampant greed and other pervasive ethical failures in the industry. So, at least somewhere in the back of your mind—or maybe even front and center—are questions about whether the pressures to “produce,” bring in clients, or generate fees will compromise your values and turn you into a person you don’t really want to be.

This guide is meant to help you make the transition into the financial services world while staying true to your ethical bearings.

About the Author(s)

Donald Langevoort

Donald C. Langevoort is the Thomas Aquinas Reynolds Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Previously, he was the Lee S. & Charles A. Speir Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law. Professor Langevoort has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School and taught courses abroad at the University of Sydney and Heidelberg University. Before entering academia, he worked at the law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and served as special counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of the US SEC. Professor Langevoort has served on FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council, the Legal Advisory Committee of the NYSE, the Legal Advisory Board of the National Association of Securities Dealers, the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Market Information, and the Nominating Committee of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. He was awarded Georgetown University’s Presidential Award for Distinguished Teacher-Scholars and has testified numerous times before Congressional committees on matters relating to securities regulation and litigation. Professor Langevoort’s most recent book is Selling Hope, Selling Risk: Corporations, Wall Street and the Dilemmas of Investor Protection. He graduated from Harvard Law School.