Legal Profession Commons^™

Law School News: Melissa Dubose L'04 Confirmed To Federal District Court 3-12-2024, Suzi Morales

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Orientation 2023 : Roger Williams University School Of Law, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Introducing Students To Ethics And Professionalism Challenges In Virtual Communication, Carol Morgan, Katherine M. Koops, James E. Moliterno, Carol Newman

Scholarly Works

As the practice of law, and the conduct of business generally, focuses increasingly on virtual communication, the ethics and professionalism challenges inherent in email, videoconference, text, and telephone communication continue to evolve. These challenges are particularly prevalent in transactional practice, which involves frequent communication with a variety of parties through a variety of communication channels. Exposing law students to these challenges through exercises and simulations contributes to the continued development of their professional identity as lawyers.

This article presents a variety of exercises that introduce students to client confidentiality, inadvertent disclosure, and other ethical issues that often arise in the …

Law School News: 'Nothing Short Of Extraordinary' 05/21/2021, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Specialty Bar Associations And The Marketing Of Ethics: The Example Of The Academy Of Adoption Attorneys, Malinda L. Seymore

Faculty Scholarship

In a world of lawyer jokes, memes of sleazy lawyers and the ubiquity of bad lawyers in television shows and movies, lawyers have reason to push back against negative public perceptions of lawyers’ ethics. This article examines the role of specialty bar associations, by using the example of the Academy of Adoption Attorneys, in marketing ethics to the public.

Specialty bar associations have been seen as sites of lawyer socialization and professionalism. Though there are thousands of specialty bar associations with aspirational ethical codes, the Academy of Adoption Attorneys is unusual among such associations in having a mandatory ethics code, …

Law Talk In A Brief Advice Clinic, Linda F. Smith

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Over three decades ago, Sarat and Felstiner published a ground-breaking ethnographic study of divorce client-lawyer conversations. They concluded that lawyers portrayed "a chaotic 'anti-system' in which [clients] cannot rely on the technical proficiency, or good faith, of judges and rival lawyers" but need to rely on their own lawyers' insider status to achieve reasonable outcomes.1 Although lawyers initially described the law and procedure to their clients, they rarely referenced that rational description when explaining what had occurred or would occur in their clients' cases. This law talk may have gradually and ultimately persuaded the clients to reach reasonable settlements, but …

Learning From Our Mistakes: Conversation Analysis Reveals Best Practices For A Student-Staffed Pro Bono Project, Linda F. Smith

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Law schools make “pro bono” opportunities available to students to introduce them to the responsibilities of the profession. Often these pro bono law students help in “brief advice” projects staffed by volunteer attorneys. This staffing-supervision structure presents challenges in ensuring clients receive competent, individualized advice and the students receive adequate oversight so that this is a positive learning experience for them. This paper analyzes transcripts from 46 recorded student-client interviews and 35 student-attorney consultations. It focuses on those cases where there were “errors or omissions” -- either the client got some erroneous advice or the client did not receive complete, …

Law School News: A Fond Farewell To Deborah Johnson 6-7-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Public Interest Law Students Honored 05-02-2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Mindfulness In Legal Ethics And Professionalism, Peter H. Huang

Publications

Mindfulness involves paying attention with curiosity in an intentional, open, and compassionate way to life as it unfolds moment to moment. Law students, lawyers, law professors, legal clients, and indeed all people can improve their lives through mindfulness. Mindfulness can lead to individual benefits and personal transformation. Mindfulness can also lead to societal benefits and social change. This invited symposium contribution exemplifies how mindfulness can facilitate the positive personal and professional development of law students by presenting excerpts of law students’ answers discussing mindfulness to questions from the final examination of the course: Legal Ethics and Professionalism. Notably, none of …

Personal Injury Law, Defense V. Plaintiff: A Return To Civility, Daniel Stiffler, Jamie Finizio Bascombe

NSU Law Seminar Series

This particular seminar is designed to educate attorneys on the importance of communicating and navigating a civil case while maintaining a level of professionalism, civility, and integrity to the profession, opposing party, and the court. Learning Outcomes include:

1. How to maintain a level of civility while competently represent clients in civil cases in Florida
2. Review standards of conduct in the context of a lawyer’s responsibility to perceive and protect the image of the profession

The Florida Bar CLE credits - General 2.0, Ethics 0.5 The Florida Bar Certification Credits - Civil Trial 2.0

The Rise And Fall Of Social Trustee Professionalism, Michael Ariens

Faculty Articles

Elite lawyers have long urged the private practice bar to account for the interests of more than their clients in their work. A lawyer who served merely as a "mouthpiece" or "hired gun" of clients failed to meet the standards of professionalism, of failing to act, in Roscoe Pound's words, "in the spirit of a public service." Pound's view, expressed in the mid-20th century, was premised on the ideal that the lawyer pursued a public calling that incidentally was remunerative. This ideal required the lawyer to serve as a social trustee, one encumbered by duties for the benefit of society. …

The Ethical Identity Of Sexual Assault Lawyers, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Despite progressive law reforms, sexual assault complainants continue to experience the criminal justice response to the violations that they have suffered as unsatisfactory, if not traumatic. One emerging response to this dilemma involves greater consideration of the ethical boundaries imposed on lawyers that practice sexual assault law. What is the relationship between a criminal lawyer’s ethical duties and the reforms to the law of sexual assault in Canada? How do lawyers themselves understand the ethical limits imposed on their conduct of a sexual assault case? How do lawyers that practice in this area of law comprehend their role in the …

Creating Space For Silence In Law School Collaborations, A. Rachel Camp

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Law school programs are increasingly expanding collaborative experiences for their students. In many clinical programs, collaboration -- through team pairings and group work – has been the norm, and gradually, collaborative work is being developed throughout the doctrinal law school curriculum. This trend fits within a broader societal emphasis on a collaborative model of working and learning. In both professional and educational settings, collaboration is viewed as critical to the success of ideas and products. Learning theory consistently identifies learning as being “inherently social” and best retained when engaged in with others. And, collaboration can substantially benefit the final work …

How Improving Decision-Making And Mindfulness Can Improve Legal Ethics And Professionalism, Peter H. Huang

Publications

Lawyers who behave unethically and unprofessionally do so for various reasons, ranging from intention to carelessness. Lawyer misconduct can also result from decision-making flaws. Psychologist Chip Heath and his brother Dan Heath, in their best-selling book, Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work, suggest a process to improve people’s decision-making. They introduce the acronym WRAP as the mnemonic for these decision-making heuristics: (1) Widen your options, (2) Reality-test your assumptions, (3) Attain distance before deciding, and (4) Prepare to be wrong. The WRAP process mitigates these cognitive biases: (1) narrow framing of a decision problem, (2) …

Redefining Professionalism, Rebecca Roiphe

Articles & Chapters

Most scholars condemn professionalism as self-serving, anti-competitive rhetoric. This Article argues that professionalism can be a positive and productive way of thinking about lawyers’ work. While it is undoubtedly true that the Bar has used the ideology of the professional role to support self-interested and bigoted causes, professionalism has also served as an important way of developing and marshalling group identity to promote useful ends. The critics of professionalism tend to view it as an ideology, according to which professionals, unlike businessmen, are concerned not with their own financial gain but with the good of their clients and the community …

Tilting At Stratification: Against A Divide In Legal Education, Rebecca Roiphe

Articles & Chapters

Critics suggest we divide law schools into an elite tier whose graduates serve global business clients and a lower tier, which would prepare lawyers for simple disputes. This idea is not new. A similar proposal emerged in the early twentieth century. This article draws on the historical debate to argue that this simplistic approach cannot solve the myriad problems facing the legal profession and legal education. Supporters of separate tiers of law school rely on a caricature of the early history to argue that the Bar is acting in a protectionist way to ensure its own monopoly and keep newcomers …

Teaching The Newly Essential Knowledge, Skills, And Values In A Changing World, Eliza Vorenberg, Cynthia F. Adcock, Eden E. Harrington, Elizabeth Kane, Lisa Bliss, Robin Boyle, Conrad Johnson, Susan Schechter, David Udell

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter of Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World has contributions from many authors:

• Section A, Professional Identity Formation, includes:
  • Teaching Knowledge, Skills, and Values of Professional Identity Formation, by Larry O. Natt Gantt, II & Benjamin V. Madison III,
  • Integrating Professionalism into Doctrinally-Focused Courses, by Paula Schaefer,
  • Learning Professional Responsibility, by Clark D. Cunningham, and
  • Teaching Leadership, by Deborah L. Rhode.
• Section B, Pro Bono as a Professional Value, is by Cynthia F. Adcock, Eden E. Harrington, Elizabeth Kane, Susan Schechter, David S. Udell & Eliza Vorenberg.
• Section C, The Relational Skills of the …

Law Firm Internships And The Making Of Future Lawyers: An Empirical Study In Singapore, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the findings of an empirical study of law students from the Singapore Management University on their internship experiences at private law firms. As internships are frequently undertaken by law students, it is necessary for stakeholders to understand their impact on the values and ideals of law students in relation to the law and legal practice. This article seeks to increase the consciousness of law school educators, lawyers, and the professional bar about how law firm internships are contributing to the making of future lawyers, so as to facilitate the reflection by these parties as to their roles …

The Forgotten Promise Of Professionalism, Rebecca Roiphe

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Foreword To The Conference: The Law: Business Or Profession? The Continuing Relevance Of Julius Henry Cohen For The Practice Of Law In The Twenty-First Century, Samuel J. Levine

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Professionalism And The New Normal, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

Mission: Impossible, Mission: Accomplished Or Mission: Underway? A Survey And Analysis Of Current Trends In Professionalism Education In American Law Schools, Alison Kehner, Mary Ann Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article identifies common characteristics of effective professionalism instruction to provide guidance in how to design innovative professionalism instruction. After introducing the topic in Part I, Part II of this Article describes the origins and development of the professionalism education movement in American Law schools. Part III of this Article explains our methods for collecting information and identifies and summarizes the predominant trends, and provides examples of noteworthy programs or initiatives. Part IV concludes by describing our method for assessing successful programs and identifying the characteristics of effective professionalism instruction.

The Framing Effects Of Professionalism: Is There A Lawyer Cast Of Mind? Lessons From Compliance Programs, Robert Eli Rosen, Christine E. Parker, Viveke Lehmann Nielsen

Articles

Professionals working inside companies may bring with them frames of mind set by their professional experience and socialization. Lawyers, in particular, are said to "think like a lawyer"-to have a lawyer cast of mind. In seeking power within a company and in exercising the power that they obtain, professionals may draw on their professional background to frame, name, diagnose, and prescribe a remedy for the company's problems. In making decisions about their compliance with the law, companies are constrained not only by their environment, but also by their agents' understanding of whose (or what) interests the company should serve. In …

Lawyering In Place: Topographies Of Practice And Pleadings In Pittsburgh, 1775-1895, Bernard J. Hibbitts

Articles

Even in the digital age, lawyering is always located. Lawyers live and work in physical space, and they deal with other lawyers and with clients who also have at least some measure of physicalized existence. Distracted and ofttimes overwhelmed by written records, legal historians have traditionally paid little attention to the physical environment of lawyering, but under the influence of contemporary cultural factors this is beginning to change. Indeed, in light of recent works on American, English and even ancient law it may be time to recognize the birth pangs of a new interdisciplinary field that we might label “legal …

Standard Lawyer Behavior? Professionalism As An Essential Standard For Aba Accreditation, Nicola A. Boothe-Perry

Journal Publications

This article addresses the ABA as a source of pressure to encourage and foster professionalism education in law schools. The ABA holds a uniquely powerful position in the American legal community, and with it the ABA enjoys the attendant ability to influence professionalism training and awareness. The principal tool at the ABA's disposal considered in this article is the ABA's ability to promulgate standards for professionalism as a requirement for law school accreditation. This article argues that this is the proper time for the ABA to institute a specific standard in an effort to increase professionalism in the legal profession.

Introduction: Lawyers As Conservators?, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

This Symposium reminds us of our most important work, to protect legal institutions and the rule of law, and asks this most provocative question: Will 21st Century Business, Regulatory, and Educational Challenges Destroy the Lawyer's Role As Guardian of Legal Institutions and the Rule of Law?To some Symposium participants, the question posed is too dystopian. Is survival of the rule of law really at stake? For others, the Symposium question suggests a prior, even darker one: How can we conserve what is already lost? How, indeed, will we conserve legal institutions and the role of law? Are we, as lawyers, …

A History Of Professionalism: Julius Henry Cohen And The Professions As A Route To Citizenship, Rebecca Roiphe

Articles & Chapters

This paper revives the notion that professionalism and the legal profession can serve as a mechanism for immigrants and those who are not born into wealth or privilege to achieve status. I draw on the example of Cohen, a Jewish lawyer who achieved a great deal of success within the profession in the early 20th Century, to argue that the rhetoric surrounding the professions allows immigrants and others to use professional success to find their way to full inclusion and citizenship. While acknowledging the merits of the critiques of the professions as rent-seeking cartels, I argue that professionalism is an …

Making Civility Democratic, Amy R. Mashburn

UF Law Faculty Publications

Historically, the concept of civility has been bound up with undemocratic notions of hierarchy and deference. Using insights from studies of civility by social psychologists, linguists, sociologists, historians, and political theorists, this article advances the theory that the legal profession’s self-consciously isolating professionalism ideology allows judges and disciplinary tribunals to apply deference-based notions of civility in their decisions to sanction lawyers. This theory would predict that the lawyers most likely to be sanctioned for incivility and rudeness are those from whom society expects the most deference. To test this theory, the author conducted an empirical study of every available case …

Externships: A Signature Pedagogy For The Apprenticeship Of Professional Identity And Purpose, Kelly S. Terry

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.