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Article I:
Responsibilities
In carrying out their responsibilities as
professionals, individuals should
exercise sensitive professional and moral judgments in all
their activities.
Judgment recovery
professionals perform an essential role in society.
Consistent with that role, they have responsibilities to
all those who utilize their services. Professionals also
have a continuing responsibility to cooperate with each
other to improve the business of judgment recovery,
maintain the public's confidence, and carry out the
profession's special responsibilities for self-governance.
The collective efforts of all professionals are required
to maintain and enhance the traditions of the
profession.
Article II: The
Public Interest
Judgment recovery professionals should accept the
obligation
to perform in a way that will serve the public interest,
honor the
public trust, and demonstrate commitment to
professionalism.
1) A distinguishing
mark of any profession is acceptance of its responsibility
to the public. The judgment recovery profession's public
consists of judgment creditors, judgment debtors, the
court system, the legal profession, and others who rely on
the objectivity and integrity of judgment recovery
professionals. This reliance imposes a public interest
responsibility on judgment recovery professionals. The
public interest is defined as the collective well-being of
the community of people and institutions the profession
serves.
2) In discharging their professional responsibilities,
judgment recovery professionals may encounter conflicting
pressures from among each of those groups. In resolving
those conflicts, the judgment recovery professional should
act with integrity, guided by the precept that when
individuals fulfill their responsibility to the public,
everyone's interests are best served.
3) Those who rely on judgment recovery professionals
expect them to discharge their responsibilities with
integrity, objectivity, due professional care, and a
genuine interest in serving the public -- all in a manner
that demonstrates a level of professionalism consistent
with these Principles of the Code of Ethics.
4) Judgment recovery professionals commit themselves to
honor the public trust. In return for the faith that the
public reposes in them, judgment recovery professionals
should seek continually to demonstrate their dedication to
professional excellence.
Article III:
Integrity
To maintain and broaden public confidence,
judgment recovery professionals should perform
all responsibilities with the highest sense of
integrity.
1) Integrity is an
element of character fundamental to professional
recognition. It is the quality from which the public trust
derives and the benchmark against which a judgment
recovery professional must ultimately test all
decisions.
2) Integrity requires the individual to be, among other
things, honest and candid within the constraints of
professional confidentiality. Service and the public trust
should not be subordinated to personal gain and advantage.
Integrity can accommodate the inadvertent error and the
honest difference of opinion; it cannot accommodate deceit
or subordination of principle.
3) Integrity is measured in terms of what is right and
just. In the absence of specific rules, standards, or
guidance, or in the face of conflicting opinions, the
individual should test decisions and deeds by asking: "Am
I doing what a person of integrity would do? Have I
retained my integrity?" Integrity requires the individual
to observe both the form and the spirit of technical and
ethical standards; circumvention of those standards
constitutes subordination of judgment.
4) Integrity also requires a judgment recovery
professional to observe the principles of objectivity and
independence and of due care.
Article IV: Due
Care
A judgment recovery professional should observe the
profession's technical and ethical standards, strive
continually
to improve competence and the quality of services, and
discharge
professional responsibility to the best of his or her
ability.
1) The quest for
excellence is the essence of due care. Due care requires
the judgment recovery professional to discharge
professional responsibilities with competence and
diligence. It imposes the obligation to perform
professional services to the best of the individual's
ability with concern for the best interest of those for
whom the services are performed and consistent with the
profession's responsibility to the public.
2) Competence is derived from a synthesis of education and
experience. It begins with a mastery of the common body of
knowledge required for designation as a judgment recovery
professional. The maintenance of competence requires a
commitment to learning and professional improvement that
must continue throughout the individual's professional
life. It is a judgment recovery professional's individual
responsibility. In all engagements and in all
responsibilities, each individual should undertake to
achieve a level of competence that will assure that the
quality of their services meet the high level of
professionalism required by these Principles.
3) Competence represents the attainment and maintenance of
a level of understanding and knowledge that enables the
judgment recovery professional to render services with
facility and acumen. It also establishes the limitations
of the individual's capabilities by dictating that
consultation or referral may be required when a
professional engagement exceeds the personal competence of
the individual. Every judgment recovery professional is
responsible for assessing his or her own competence - of
evaluating whether education, experience, and judgment are
adequate for the responsibility to be assumed.
4) Judgment recovery professionals should be diligent in
discharging responsibilities to the public. Diligence
imposes the responsibility to render services promptly and
carefully, to be thorough, and to observe applicable
technical and ethical standards.
5) Due care requires the individual to plan and supervise
adequately any professional activity for which he or she
is responsible.
Article V: Scope
and Nature of Services
A judgment recovery professional should observe
the Principles of the Code of Professional Ethics in
determining the scope and nature of services to be
provided.
1) The public
interest aspect of the judgment recovery professionals'
services requires that such services be consistent with
acceptable professional behavior. Integrity requires that
service and the public trust not be subordinated to
personal gain and advantage. Objectivity and independence
require that the individual be free from conflicts of
interest in discharging professional responsibilities. Due
care requires that services be provided with competence
and diligence.
2) Each of these Principles should be considered by the
judgment recovery professional in determining whether or
not to provide specific services in individual
circumstances. No hard-and-fast rules can be developed to
help the individual reach these judgments, but the
individual must be satisfied that they are meeting the
spirit of the Principles in this regard. In order to
accomplish this, judgment recovery professionals should
assess, in their individual judgments, whether an activity
is consistent with their role as professionals.
Article VI:
Pledge
All judgment recovery professionals freely subscribe
to
the following pledge without prejudice or
reservation.
In the execution of
my professional responsibilities, I will:
- Conduct my business in a professional
and ethical manner.
-
Comply with
all city, county, state, and federal laws.
-
Respond
promptly to all correspondence from all parties involved
in my purchased judgments.
-
Immediately
return ownership of all judgments to the original
judgment creditor should I terminate my business.
-
Stay
abreast of changes within the industry.
-
Maintain
confidentiality with respect to agreements with the
original judgment creditor.
-
Continue to
educate myself with respect to the legal processes
involved in judgment recovery.
-
Assist
other judgment recovery professionals through the sharing
of my knowledge.
-
Not use
harassing tactics in the process of recovery of any
judgment.
-
Not render
legal advice in any form or fashion, or give the
appearance of rendering legal advice.
-
Not engage
in unfair business practices in regard to the public or
other judgment recovery professionals.
[Revised 12/04]
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