Roey Rahmil ’07, J.D., is a partner at Shartsis Friese LLP and serves on the Ethics Center Advisory Board. His litigation practice focuses on complex business cases, with an emphasis on representing individuals and businesses in professional liability, real estate, and insurance coverage matters. Rahmil’s first connection with the Center was as a Hackworth Fellow during his time as an undergraduate student here, at Santa Clara University. He received his bachelor of science, magna cum laude, in Political Science and Philosophy in 2007 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law in 2010, and was elected to the Order of the Coif and the Order of Barristers. While at Davis, Rahmil served as a senior notes and comments editor for the UC Davis Law Review.
Rahmil draws on his professional experience as a litigator in explaining why he believes ethics to be important to him. “Professionally, we are guided by certain rules of [professional] conduct that set floors for how we conduct ourselves and build relationships with clients. Most lawyers hold themselves at a certain standard and higher reproach. So, both in upholding my obligations as a lawyer and in helping my clients do what they want to do in business or personal affairs, it’s applicable. I think ethics are really important to help guide our decisions.” Rahmil further discusses the potentiality for a conflict of interest regarding ethics and settling a business dispute, and how his background has aided him in achieving his clients’ desired end result through counseling. He says that while weighing the pros and cons of any settlement, he and his client must discuss the “inextricably intertwined” ethics of the situation, as well.
Rahmil is greatly passionate about his role as an Advisory Board member at the Markkula Center and is continuously grateful for his experience with the Center as an undergraduate and former Hackworth Fellow. He attributes much of his development in ethics to the Center, and strongly believes in its importance regardless of one’s field of work. “I just really loved my time at the Ethics Center; it was a great group of people, it was a wonderful opportunity for me as an undergrad. I think it’s a great institution to get involved with and I’ve been very grateful that I’m still able to be involved.” Rahmil encourages SCU’s current undergraduate student body to “get comfortable thinking through the different Frameworks for Ethical Decision Making, and to get comfortable with the fact that if you're looking at one decision, running through the different frameworks might lead you to different outcomes and different answers. That’s okay, that’s how it’s supposed to work, but once you do that you have to be confident and understand that there might not be one right answer but you’ve done the exercise to figure out, hopefully, what the wrong answers are.”
Mia Kanter ‘24, dance & french studies major and a marketing and communications intern at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, contributed to this story.