Summer 2017 Course Schedule

Legal Ethics (LAW-550-001)
Fernando Laguarda

Meets: 06:00 PM - 08:45 PM (Th) - Yuma - Room Y402

Enrolled: 21 / Limit: 65

Administrator Access


Notices

There are no notices at this time.

Description

The goal of this course is to help begin the lifetime process of developing reflective, creative, and ethical legal problem-solving skills. To do so, it will touch on the issues that lawyers face, from the duty of confidentiality to clients to the hazard of conflicts of interest. By working through such issues, the course aims to help students develop of a set of pre-commitments as to what type of professional they want to be and what it means to be an ethical problem solver. Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to demonstrate a fundamental knowledge of the ethical obligations of lawyers, demonstrate the ability to identify ethical issues concerning legal practice, demonstrate the ability to analyze ethical issues concerning legal practice, and demonstrate the ability to resolve ethical hypotheticals concerning legal practice.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

Required Texts Page references below are to Shwartz, Wydick, Perchbacher & Bassett, Problems in Legal Ethics 11th Edition (West Publishing) [hereinafter referred to as “Casebook”]. Assigned readings from materials other than the casebook will be posted.

Recommended but optional for use is John S. Dzienkowski, Professional Responsibility Standards Rules and Statutes (Abridged Edition 2015 or 2016) [hereinafter referred to as “Model Rules”]. Do not use earlier versions of either text, as they are out of date.

Additional material for course use: ABA Model Rules, available at http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents.html 8.5. Background materials (optional but recommended): NPR’s Planet Money, “Why People Do Bad Things,” http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/17/150815268/why-people-do-bad-things Daniel Kahneman, Don’t Blink! The Hazards of Confidence, N.Y. TIMES, MM30, Oct. 23, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/dont-blink-the-hazards-of-confidence.html?pagewanted=all. Jane L. Risen & A. David Nussbaum, Believing What You Don’t Believe, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/opinion/believing-what-you-dont-believe.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share Susan Cain, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html Susan Cain, http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?language=en Background materials (optional but recommended): NPR’s Planet Money, “Why People Do Bad Things,” http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/04/17/150815268/why-people-do-bad-things Daniel Kahneman, Don’t Blink! The Hazards of Confidence, N.Y. TIMES, MM30, Oct. 23, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/magazine/dont-blink-the-hazards-of-confidence.html?pagewanted=all. Jane L. Risen & A. David Nussbaum, Believing What You Don’t Believe, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/opinion/believing-what-you-dont-believe.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

First Class Readings

First assignment Please come to the first class prepared to discuss Casebook Chapter 1, Rules 4.4, 1.14, and 1.16; and Casebook Chapter 2, Rules 5.5, 8.1, and 8.5.”

Syllabus

Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):