Professional Responsibility (Finkelstein)
Faculty
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| Claire Finkelstein Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law cfinkels@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Expository Writing
None
Other Professional Skills:
Grading
20% Participation,
80% Exam,
Other (If you select the final paper option, your paper grade will be 80% of your course grade, substituting for the exam.)
Exam
Multiple Choice,
Essay,
In Class,
Partial Open Book (You may bring your copy of the Rules of Professional Responsibility to the Exam and consult any notes you have prepared yourself in preparation for the exam. You may also access your casebook. Internet access is not permitted during the exam.)
With Permission of Instructor
Students are expected to submit a prospectus by the deadline identified on the syllabus and to receive approval before they will be permitted to take the paper option in lieu of exam.
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can send you an email with instructions for accessing the recording for the class session(s) you missed.
- If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can make PowerPoint slides or other class materials available to you.
Meeting Times/Location
T 3:00PM - 4:50PM
Tanenbaum Hall 320
Category
Upper-Level
Credits
2.0
This class provides a survey of ethical dilemmas that arise in the legal profession, both in private sector practice and in a variety of public sector domains, such as government lawyering, prosecutorial discretion, professional standards for judges, rules governing pro bono practice and lawyering in the public interest, and more. Topics include the basic structure of the lawyer-client relationship, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, candor to the courts and third parties, the role of the attorney as counselor, compensation for legal services, the tension between "cause lawyering" and individual representation, and a lawyer’s duty to serve justice and defend the integrity of the legal profession. We will examine many difficult questions that arise for lawyers in the profession under the above headings, gaining exposure to the highly fact-sensitive and nuanced differences among cases that may determine the right approach for a principled practitioner.
We will also consider recent prominent developments surrounding legal representation of government officials, particularly litigation and other acts of lawyering surrounding the 2020 election and beyond. We will consider, for example, the position of lawyers representing the former president with regard to election filings, the January 6th attack on the Capitol building, the search of Mar-a-Lago, and more, tracking these developments as they have unfolded in recent months and as they will continue to unfold during the semester. We will have several outside speakers relating to these themes.
The aims of the course are threefold: First, the course will prepare students to embark on life in the law by equipping them with a working knowledge of the prevailing responses to question of professional ethics developed by a variety of experts, such as academics, judges, bar associations and professional ethicists. Second, and equally important, the course aims to cultivate personal intuitions and inspire reflection on ethical questions they may encounter in law practice. The intuitions that ground lawyers who practice with integrity must be acquired through a process of constant discussion and debate with others. This course seeks to initiate that process. Finally, the course will help students understand current events relating to high-profile legal battles and will allow students to discuss and debate the role of lawyers in advising government and former government officials. We will also consider the role of bar associations in relation to such events.
Students may choose between taking an in-class final exam or writing a final 12-14 page paper, as long as the paper topic is approved by the instructor. For approved topics, this course may be used to satisfy the Senior Writing Requirement.
Professional Responsibility and Ethics Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Textbooks
"Model Rules of Professional Conduct" by American Bar Association |