Integrity is a quality on which public discourse has focused recently. Understanding the word’s uses and misuses can help attorneys as they seek to navigate the sometimes tricky interpersonal relationships at their firms.
The word “integrity” is related to “integer,” meaning oneness, or the quality of being unitary or whole. A person who demonstrates integrity, then, is someone whose speech and actions are of a whole with his intentions, thoughts and values. When understood in this way, the word carries no value attributions. In this light, people can understand even the villains of history as men of integrity.
