I don't have to remind the Association of Corporate Counsel that regulations are not designed to be convenient. They are designed to achieve an elemental order, and to serve a broader, public, interest. Societies need rules. To take the simplest analogy, traffic laws aren't convenient, but they get most of us safely across the street. But traffic, and other, laws are relatively precise, and publicly promulgated.
Ethical standards are in a different domain.
While the prominent debate today is about government and politics, the issue applies more broadly. Purdy Crawford has recently chaired a committee recommending that analysts and brokerage firms must be far more forthcoming in the way they disclose their own financial interests. I have no doubt that many of the companies for whom you work are considering similar questions. The public interest in ethics guidelines goes beyond simply defining the standards. More fundamentally, it seeks to establish that there is a standard, which leaders must respect, and which citizens can trust.