Professional Responsibility

Course Information

Registration Information

Meeting Times

Day Time Location
MON, WED 11:50 am - 1:05 pm TNH 2.124

Evaluation Method

Type Date Time Location
Final exam December 16, 2019 8:30 am A-L in 2.123
M-Z in 2.124

Description

This course approaches the subject of professional responsibility as a study of how society regulates the legal profession and the conduct of lawyers. First, we study the organized regulation of the profession, which includes the following topics: (1) the admission of lawyers, (2) the establishment of the legal services monopoly through unauthorized practice of law statutes, (3) the state and federal systems for disciplining lawyers, and (4) the clients. Second, we study the regulation of the conduct of individual lawyers through the transactional perspectives: (1) formation of the attorney- client relationship, (2) performance of the representation, and (3) termination of the relationship. We also spend significant time examining the three contexts of regulating lawyers' conduct: (1) the disciplinary committee, (2) the private malpractice action, and (3) judicial regulation as part of the lawyer's representation of a client. Although we discuss the Model Code and the Model Rules, this course does not focus on the rules of professional responsibility as the sole source of ethical guidelines. The course should prepare you for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam; however, it is more useful as an introduction to identifying and resolving ethical problems in practice. In addition, it is your first introduction to the practice of law as a profession.

Student grades are assessed through an in class exam with objective questions and essay questions; a 5 page outside paper, and completing the multiple choice questions in the Casebook Plus online module.

Textbooks ( * denotes required )

Professional Responsibility: Problems and Materials Unabridged with the Casebook Plus Feature *
Thomas Morgan, Ronald Rotunda, and John Dzienkowski
West Academic , edition: 13th ed. 2018
ISBN: 9781642420326
Professional Responsibility Standards, Rules & Standards 2019-2020 Abridged edition *
John Dzienkowski
West Academic , edition: 2019-2020 abridged
ISBN: new book

Instructors

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Important Class Changes

Date Updated
11/07/2019 Exam information updated