Background of
"It may be legal, but is it right?"

David Calkins adopted the slogan, "It may be legal, but is it right?" while working at a major public corporation. He was often called upon to render legal opinions but since he was part of the management team, he went beyond the requests. He reminded others on the team that just because there exists a "legal" minimum standard according to statutes (law created by legislatures), or case law (law created by courts), or contracts ("law" created by agreement between parties), does not mean that application of that standard is the best action to be taken in all circumstances. Often, a better action is to go beyond that which is minimally required by law.

Additional examples are provided throughout this web site. David challenges attorneys and business people to adopt, as part of the decision making process, the concept of, "It may be legal, but is it right?"