LAW 117 - The Legal Profession

This course, which satisfies the law school’s and the ABA’s professional responsibility requirements, will cover lawyers’ obligations as members of the legal profession, as defined by the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and other bodies of law, but will also examine deeper questions of what it means to be a lawyer. The course will examine how lawyers over time and in various settings have constructed their identities, established their power, viewed their duty, and articulated their missions. Topics to be covered will include traditional professional responsibility topics, such as the lawyer-client relationship, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and competence, but will also include the historical development of the legal profession in England and America, the emergence of an adversarial legal culture, the changing nature of legal education, and the development of a professional identity. NOTE; LAW 117 is equivalent to LAW 115, Professional Responsibility. Students may not take LAW 117, The Legal Profession, if currently enrolled in or completed LAW 115, Professional Responsibility.