THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR TEACHING
ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM (NIFTEP)

SECOND ANNUAL WORKSHOP
December 15 – 17, 2006
Red Top Mountain Lodge
Georgia

Web Site: http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/Professionalism/NIFTEP/

Program

The first 2 days of the program were videotaped and can be viewed on-line by clicking on the highlighted title of each session below. You must have the most current version of Quicktime installed on your computer for this webcasting. Click here for a free download or update of Quicktime.

Friday, December 15
3:30 - 5:30 pm
Opening Session

Saturday, December 16
9:30 - 11:00 am Session 1
Pilot Project for Professional Proficiency Testing (see description below)
11:15 am - 12:30 Session 2
Teaching Demonstration: The OPM Client Meeting Exercise
2:00 - 3:00 pm Session 3
The Practice of Law as a Business: Not a Bad Thing? (see description below)
3:15 - 4:30 pm Session 4
Teaching Ethics and Professionalism as Part of a Course on Fundamentals of Law Practice (see description below)

Sunday, December 17 (not recorded for webcast)
8:15- 10:00 am Closing plenary
10:00 - 12:00 Working group meetings

Advance Preparation for Workshop:
Fellows, speakers and discussants were encouraged to:
-- Review the 20 minute webcast on the Signet Accreditation program in Scotland which is the model for the Tennessee pilot project for professional proficiency training. You can view this webcast at: http://law.gsu.edu/Communication/Signet.htm
-- Read the short article by Professor Lisle Baker, "Enhancing Professional Competence and Legal Excellence Through Teaching Law Practice Management," 40 Journal of Legal Education 375 (1990). Professor Baker had originally planned to participate in the workshop.
-- OPM Exercise. This exercise, originally designed for use in Professional Responsibility: Heroes & Villains at at GSU, was discussed during Session 2 on Saturday morning through viewing a videotape of two students conducting this simulation. Download in pdf format (4 pages) by clicking here.

Pilot Project for Professional Proficiency Testing
The Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization is considering a pilot project to develop realistic, in-context proficiency examinations for practicing lawyers, with a particular focus on client communications, ethical decision making, and law practice management. The first application of such tests would be a new series of intensive and demanding CLE programs, perhaps specifically designed for in-house lawyers at large corporations; these lawyers would be at the 4-6 year point in practice, getting ready to handle major matters without supervision and to supervise others. This pilot is inspired by the example of the innovative Signet Accreditation program being launched in Scotland by the Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet, an independent membership organization for lawyers which is one of the oldest professional bodies in the world. More information on the Signet Accreditation program is available at: http://law.gsu.edu/Communication/Signet.htm Session 1 on Saturday was led by David Shearon, Executive Director of the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization, and NIFTEP Director Clark Cunningham, who is serving as an academic consultant on the Signet Accreditation program.

The Practice of Law as a Business: Not a Bad Thing?
This session was led by Professor Timothy Mahoney, PhD, CPA, CFA, who teaches philosophy and business ethics at Providence College in Rhode Island. Professor Mahoney explored how models of good business practice might address some of the most pervasive problems of ethics and professionalism in the legal profession. He developed this theme during his session at the Inaugural NIFTEP Workshop in September 2005 and expanded it as a NIFTEP presenter at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Conference on New Ideas for Law Teachers held in Vancouver in June 2006. He was joined by Steve Olson, Associate Director of the Southern Institute for Business & Professional Ethics at Georgia State University.

Teaching Ethics and Professionalism as Part of a Course on Fundamentals of Law Practice
One of many innovative ideas discussed at the 2005 Inaugural Workshop was to integrate the teaching of ethics and professionalism into a type of education urgently needed in the law school curriculum – a course on the fundamentals of law practice, especially in the context of setting up and managing a small or solo law firm. This topic garnered considerable discussion at the NIFTEP session at the AALS Conference on New Ideas for Law Teachers and also has connections with enhanced bridge-the-gap and mentoring programs for new lawyers (see. e.g. http://www.gabar.org/programs/transition_into_law_practice_program/)  and alternate routes to licensing such as the Webster Scholars program being piloted in New Hampshire (see http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/PDF/BarExaminer-Nov05-Cunningham.pdf )