Lawyer Ethics

2 units

[This 2 unit course is part of the ethics curriculum and is considered a survey ethics course. Students may not take more than one survey ethics course for credit toward their degree.] Lawyers are often required to choose a course of action from among competing interests and duties. Lawyers may have obligations to a tribunal, clients, other persons involved in a matter, and also to themselves, their firms, and their families. This course will explore the issues most commonly encountered by practitioners and how they can and do resolve such issues. We will study the rules-based parameters of lawyer conduct, but will also consider other standards governing professional responsibility and liability, and the personal, ethical, and moral dilemmas that confront lawyers. All of these will be addressed from the viewpoint of a practitioner. Attention will also be paid to the particular issues which face the prosecutor and defense counsel in the criminal arena. Guest lecturers will address areas of particular importance. This course is not a review for the MPRE. The course will focus on the issues related to and philosophy of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Student grades will be based mainly on a multiple-choice final examination, although class participation will also be considered. While not taught as a traditional law school class in that the class does not emphasize case analysis, participation will include both answering questions provided in lecture notes and one or more team exercises which require out of class work. ABA Standard 310 requires not less than one hour of classroom or direct faculty instruction and two hours of out-of-class student work per week or the equivalent amount of work over a different amount of time for each credit hour awarded. This course is designed to meet this requirement, and each student is expected to spend on average no less than two hours of out-of-class time for each one-hour of in-class time, per credit hour. 2 units.