Requiring Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility? Leah Wortham The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. July 24, 2015

Prescription? Who is prescribing? For what purpose? With what process? Context ◦ What is already there? ◦ Political environment ◦ Various other variables

ABA Standard 302: Learning Outcomes A law school shall establish learning outcomes that shall, at a minimum, include competency in the following:... (c) Exercise of proper professional and ethical responsibilities to clients and the legal system;

ABA Standard 303: Curriculum (a) A law school shall offer a curriculum that requires each student to satisfactorily complete at least the following: (1) one course of at least two credit hours in professional responsibility that includes substantial instruction in the history, goals, structure, values, and responsibilities of the legal profession and its members;

ABA Standard 301: Legal Program Objectives (a) A law school shall maintain a rigorous program of legal education that prepares its students, upon graduation, for admission to the bar and for effective, ethical, and responsible participation as members of the legal profession.

My proposition: every law graduate should have In JD, BA, LLB, Master’s, LLM At least one course in legal ethics/ professional responsibility involving application of ethical principles ◦ to real-world problems ◦ to teach ethical-decision-making for those going into ◦ all legal career tracks including legal jobs that do not require a bar license

U.S. Prescription Law schools must require each student to take a course No binding content requirement Many alternative approaches but all have some degree of application to practice situations All states but 3 require passage of Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) as part of bar exam

U.S. Prescription Value Required course=books=scholarship A common understanding of the topics Conferences, journals, etc. Exchange with bar regulatory structure & private practitioners Simultaneous development of law regulating lawyers Border-crossing lawyers, clients & regulatory ideas

U.S. Prescription Value At least minimal familiarity among U.S. lawyers Although required course & relation to MPRE have their downsides

Worldwide Clinics MUST teach at least some topics in legal education Possible to integrate what is needed in an experiential program but would need extra credits Wary of starting out with substantial clinical requirement for every student Good thing if all countries required a course (which could be satisfied with clinic & also in other ways)

My proposition: every law graduate should have In JD, BA, LLB, Master’s, LLM At least one course in legal ethics/ professional responsibility involving application of ethical principles ◦ to real-world problems ◦ to teach ethical-decision-making for those going into ◦ all legal career tracks including legal jobs that do not require a bar license

Useful book related to mandatory curriculum question T HE N EW L AW S CHOOL : R EEXAMINING G OALS, O RGANIZATION, AND M ETHODS FOR A C HANGING W ORLD. Kraków, Poland: Jagiellonian University Press, 2010 (Daniela Ikawa & Leah Wortham, ed.). resources/34-the-new-law-school- reexamining-goals-organization-and.html resources/34-the-new-law-school- reexamining-goals-organization-and.html