Professional Documents
Culture Documents
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course teaches the rules and standards of ethics that
govern a lawyer’s conduct in the practice of law. Students will become knowledgeable of
the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and other related authority and will learn to
apply this authority to problems involving questions of legal ethics. Students will become
keenly aware of the character traits required of an attorney and will learn what they need to
know to cultivate an excellent reputation in the profession and to avoid grievances and
malpractice claims in their practice of law.
REQUIRED TEXTS: 1) Schwartz, Wydick & Perschbacher, Problems in Legal Ethics (7th
Ed, West, 2001); and, 2) West, Selected Standards on Professional Responsibility (Latest
Ed.).
SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS: Wolfram, Modern Legal Ethics, (West, 1986); Hazard &
Hodes, The Law of Lawyering, (2d Ed, 1990).
ATTENDANCE: You are expected to be in attendance for each class in accordance with
the Law School’s policy. If you are absent for more than six hours, you will be dismissed
from the course. Attendance will be taken on the basis of a seating chart that will be
established during the first class period. You are expected to be prompt for class. This
means that you should be in your seat at least five minutes before class is scheduled to
start so that we can begin promptly. On the rare occasion that you find yourself late for
class, you are still invited to enter so long as you do so without disturbing the rest of the
class. If you are late, it is your responsibility to advise me so that you will not be marked
absent for the entire class period. However, if you are late more than twice, each
subsequent late arrival will result in your being marked absent for one hour of class time.
Professor Martha Moore MICHAELMAS TERM 2007
SYLLABUS Professional Responsibility
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PREPARATION: Each class you are responsible for all of the material that falls within
the page assignments of the required texts or any handout material that I distribute or post
on TWEN or cases that I require you to locate and read on your own. You are responsible
for studying (not just reading) the entire assignment for the day, including all cases, the
ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct ("MRPC"), problems, any handouts and TWEN
Page materials. Complete preparation requires that you BRIEF all cases and prepare
ANSWERS to all problems.
Canned briefs that you have not prepared yourself are not permitted in class. Each class I
will randomly call on students. You must be prepared to discuss the assigned material. The
fact that you have been called on once does not exempt you from being called on again.
Evidence of preparedness is demonstrated by the student’s ability not only to recite the
information contained in the cases and the notes, but also to discuss what they mean, their
significance and their application to facts. If you are not well-prepared, we will be unable to
intelligently discuss the material and, as a result, the educational experience for the entire
class will be lessened. I expect that you will occasionally have difficulty with the material.
So long as I am convinced that you have read the material and briefed the cases, I will
work with you to get through the rough spots. But I do expect you to prepare thoroughly
and do your best from the first day of class to the end of the term.
OFFICE HOURS: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, Noon to -2:30 p.m. Otherwise, I
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Professor Martha Moore MICHAELMAS TERM 2007
SYLLABUS Professional Responsibility
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EXAM: Your grade for this course will be based on a single, closed-book exam given at
the end of the course. Many students make the mistake of trying to guess the areas on
which the exam will focus based on the amount of time spent on certain areas in class. For
example, if we spend two or three class sessions on a particular topic, some students seem
to assume that this particular topic will be a major portion of the exam and will study
accordingly. You should be aware that all of the assigned material is “fair game” for
exam questions. Each and every aspect of the course provides an opportunity for
testing.
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Professor Martha Moore MICHAELMAS TERM 2007
SYLLABUS Professional Responsibility
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Professor Martha Moore MICHAELMAS TERM 2007
SYLLABUS Professional Responsibility
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15 FINAL EXAM
(12-11-07)
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