THE NATIONAL AWARD FOR INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING PROFESSIONALISM

Selected applications from 2004 - 2006 sorted by category.

To view an application, click on the applicant's surname. Many applications are accompanied by supporting materials such as syllabi and sample exercises which can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the title of the item in the list of materials at the end of the application. You may want to bookmark this page before doing so because you may not be able to return to the application after clicking on some of these links.

** = First Prize Winner
* = Honorable Mention Winner

Interaction with practicing lawyers
Anthony V. Alfieri (Miami): Center for Ethics and Public Service -- Bench & Bar Group (students provide ethics CLEs to local lawyers)
*Lisa Brabbit & Neil Hamilton (University of St. Thomas): Mentor Externship Program (required, for-credit course that combines fieldwork with a seminar component; 360 students and 425 mentors in 2005)
*Leary Davis (Campbell University): Professionalism Development Program (student "law firms" settle family law case; firms' senior partners are leading family law practitioners)
John Dzienkowski & Charles Silver (Texas): State Bar Internship ("intern for a day" program where students observe up to three disciplinary hearings and the deliberations by the panel on each hearing observed)
Douglas A. Kahn (University of Michigan): Tax Planning for Business Transactions (co-taught with practitioner using cutting-edge cases from real life submitted by senior partners at major firms)
** Patrick Emery Longan ( Mercer University): First Year Legal Profession Course (oral history assignment, Living in Law program, lawyer biography assignment)
*Lois R. Lupica (University of Maine): Professional Responsibility Re-designed (a different judge or lawyer attends each class to participate in the discussion of the day after reviewing the hypothetical in advance)
**Sharisse O'Carroll (Tulsa): "Lawyers Helping Students; Students Teaching Lawyers: Bridging the Gap Through Popular Media to Improve Professionalism in the American Legal System." (the best student team turns their presentation into a CLE seminar presented at annual state bar meeting)
Joseph B. Tulman (Univ. District of Columbia): Juvenile & Special Education Law Clinic (incorporates the training of practicing attorneys into the clinical course)
W. Bradley Wendel (Washington & Lee): Legal Ethics Institute (2 day program as part of larger course: 6-8 lawyers and judges prepare to discuss an ethical dilemma they have encountered in their practice in which the resolution was not a matter of law, but of ethical reasoning)

Simulations
*Leary Davis (Campbell University): Professionalism Development Program (student "law firms" settle family law case; firms' senior partners are leading family law practitioners)
Lawrence M. Grosberg (New York Law School): Standardized Clients in First Year Lawyering Course
Rebecca Morgan & Roberta Flowers (Stetson): Interactive Multimedia Presentation of Ethical and Professional Issues Encountered in an Elder Law Practice
*James E. Moliterno (William & Mary): Legal Skills Program (four semester course of comprehensive skills and ethics development; students are members of 16-person "law offices")

Fictional lawyers / Law in literature
Howard W. Brill (University of Arkansas): Ethics and the Lawyers of John Grisham
David S. Caudill (Washington and Lee University): Law and Literature Studies for Law Alumni and Students
** Sharisse O'Carroll (Tulsa): "Lawyers Helping Students; Students Teaching Lawyers: Bridging the Gap Through Popular Media to Improve Professionalism in the American Legal System." (Each student team reads one book and watches one movie (one about civil law, one about criminal law) and prepares a twenty minute presentation)

Professionalism in the law school classroom
Angela Mae Kupenda (Mississippi College School of Law):Teaching Professionalism by Modeling in the Most Difficult Places
* *Sophie Sparrow (Franklin Pierce Law Center): First Year Legal Skills Course

Public service in the real world
*Judith Maute (Oklahoma): "Students For Access to Justice" (pro bono program)
William Wesley Patton (Whittier): Legal Policy Clinic ("clientless" clinic where students select the substantive topic and specific legal issues)
Joseph B. Tulman (Univ. District of Columbia): Juvenile & Special Education Law Clinic

[The award application required the teacher to certify as follows: "I understand that this application and all materials I submit in support of this application become the property of the selection committee. I further authorize the selection committee to distribute and publish this application and any supporting materials on the world-wide web and in print media, unless listed below as confidential (e.g. student evaluations). If materials developed by others (including students) are included with this application, I hereby confirm that I have secured their permission to disseminate this work."]