Professional Responsibility:
Heroes and Villains
Law 6020


Clark D. Cunningham
W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics
Spring Semester 2009
Copyright © 2007. 
Last updated September 29, 2008
Web Site Address:
http:/law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/PR/

Clarence Darrow at the McNamara Trial

THIS CLASS MEETS IN ROOM 230 ON TUESDAY: 2:45 pm - 4:25 pm.. The reading assignments are posted on this web site, linked to the syllabus, except for the ABA Model Rules and Volumes I-III of the Case Studies.


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?

(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.

EXERCISES: Each exercise involves two role plays based on the same fact pattern. Each student is assigned to an exercise. The student must prepare to play an assigned role (lawyer or sometimes a client) and then must submit a written analysis of the actual role play. This analysis will be based on a video recording of the role play 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 role play will enable students to apply insights from their analysis of the first role play. A second paper will be written in light of the second role play and graded; the grade on the second writing assignment 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:
Richard Zitrin, Carol Langford & Kevin Mohr, Legal Ethics: Rules, Statutes and Comparisons (Lexis-Nexis)

Duplicated Materials: Distributed in class
Volumes I-III :Case Studies
Volume I: The Garrow Case -- Tom Alibrandi & Frank Armani, Privileged Information (edited)
Volume II: Clarence Darrow
Volume III:
(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

NOTE: Professor Cunningham is on sabbatical leave until January 2009.

EXAMINATION   The final examination will count for 40% of the course grade and will be a two-hour, closed book multiple choice exam. There will be 40 questions. (Note: the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) consists of 60 multiple choice questions to be answered in 125 minutes..)   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, even if not assigned to participate, will be better prepared for the examination.  Some of the questions will be MPRE type questions that ask you to apply the Model Rules to a hypothetical fact pattern. (You will need to know the content of the Model Rules assigned for the course but are not expected to identify them by rule number.)  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 ethical issues related to them 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. ). For sample exam questions click here.   

ATTENDANCE AND PREPARATION Each student is required to participate in one exercise (which means BOTH role plays).  Participation means that the student is timely and prepared. If you are unprepared for an assigned exercise, definitely let me know before class either in person or by note. Please do NOT attempt to participate in a role play if you are not adequately prepared; this would be very unfair to your fellow students.

A student is allowed to miss one day of an exercise (or indicate that he or she is not prepared). A student who does not satisfy the exercise participation requirement will be required to withdraw from the course. Exceptions from this policy will only be granted if a student shows exceptional good cause.