Professional Responsibility:
Heroes and Villains
Law 6020


Clark D. Cunningham
W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics
Spring Semester 2012
Copyright © 2012
Last updated February 4, 2012
Web Site Address:
http:/law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/PR/

Clarence Darrow (center)

THIS CLASS MEETS IN ROOM 230 from 2:45 pm - 4:25 pm. Taking advantage of the fact that there are no other law school courses scheduled to begin meeting on Tuesday between 4:25 pm and 6:00 pm, four classes will meet until 5:00 pm (thus avoiding the need for separately scheduled make-up classes), starting with Classes 3 and 4 on January 24 and 31. The reading assignments are posted on this web site, linked to the syllabus, except for the Materials on Georgia Legal Ethics and Volumes I and II of the Case Studies which will be passed out in class at no charge.


Constance Baker Motley with James Meredith

 

 
Course Description

This course is one section of the required Professional Responsibility course.
Is "lawyer-hero" a contradiction in terms? If not, do lawyers become heroes because of their lawyer role or in spite of it? This course will explore the possibility that the answer can be "yes" to both parts of the question, because law is unique among the professions in the way it creates for its members profound moral dangers and also offers opportunities for honorable action and inspiring self sacrifice. Three interconnecting themes will recur throughout the course:

(1) Regulation--what do the Rules of Professional Conduct and other sources of legal authority require, prohibit and permit lawyers to do in various situations? You will learn the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and, to the extent they differ in important ways, the comparable American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

(2) Client Centered Practice--what does it mean to be committed to serving your clients and how does such a commitment go beyond what the rules require or prohibit?

(3) Heroism--how does the practice of law challenge lawyers to be heroes of their own lives?

The course is organized around a series of exercises and case studies which are intended to illustrate and develop all three themes.

COURSE GRADE: The course grade is based on two writing assignments and a multiple-choice final examination, weighted as follows:
1st writing assignment: 20%
2nd writing assignment: 40%
Final exam: 40%

EXERCISES: Each exercise involves two role plays based on the same fact pattern. Each student must prepare to play an assigned role (lawyer or sometimes a client) for each role play and then must submit a written analysis based on each exercise.(The role play itself is not graded.)This analysis will be based on video recordings of the role plays which can be viewed on any computer connected to the law school network; the video can also be accessed from home computers that have good internet connections. The first writing assignment will count as 20% of the final course grade. The second paper will count as 40% of the final course grade.

CASE STUDIES: The case studies are based on actual cases. Students must be prepared to engage in rigorous class discussion about the details of the cases and to analyze the decisions and actions of the lawyers in terms of all three themes (compliance with regulations, client service, and heroism).

Required Materials

 Bookstore:
No materials are required for purchase at the bookstore

Duplicated Materials: Distributed in class
Materials on Georgia Legal Ethics (including the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct)
Volumes I-II :Case Studies
Volume I: The Garrow Case --- Tom Alibrandi & Frank Armani, Privileged Information (edited)
Volume II:
(A) The Baby Jessica Case
(B) The James Meredith Case

General Information (Course Administration)

CONTACT INFORMATION

Clark D. Cunningham
Office: Law School 442
Phone: (404) 413-9168
Fax: (404) 413-9225
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:10 -2:10 pm and by appointment
E-mail: cdcunningham@gsu.edu
Faculty Assistant: Karen P. Butler
    Room 402   (404) 413-9082 kpbutler@gsu.edu

EXAMINATION   The final examination will count for 40% of the course grade and will be a closed book multiple choice exam. Students will be expected to be familiar with all the assigned readings, including all case studies. Students must also be familiar with the fact patterns for the exercises. Students who attend all exercises and case study discussions will be better prepared for the examination.  Some of the questions will be MPRE type questions that ask you to apply the rules of professional conduct to a hypothetical fact pattern. (You will need to know the content of the ABA Model Rules and Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct assigned for the course but are not expected to identify them by rule number on the exam.)  Some questions will test knowledge and comprehension of court decisions and other materials assigned for reading. Many of the questions will be based on fact patterns from the Exercises and Case Studies and will focus on issues of ethical decisionmaking and professional judgment discussed in class and in the writing assignments. (In terms of the exercises, complete review of the "Exercises" section of the course web site is an excellent method of preparation; by "complete" I mean all the background information, specific instructions, videos, student papers posted on the web site, and instructor comments on the papers.