Readings in Ethics
This discussion course centers around readings that, implicitly or explicitly, draw connections between the practice of law, the experience of being a lawyer, the substance of the law, and ethics (including not only professional responsibility but issues of moral commitment and action more generally). Each section of the course is expected to have a different specific focus, and different readings, but all will center on the general topics of professionalism and ethics.
The class will meet six or seven times throughout the year, most likely in the evenings. The instructor will guide the discussion, but students will be expected to take an active role in shaping each class's discussion. The course will be graded on a credit/no credit basis. Reading and writing obligations will vary from section to section.
Ethics Requirement: Students can satisfy the Law School's two-credit ethics requirement by taking this course and the one-credit course entitled Ethics and the Rules of Professional Conduct (246). The courses need not be taken concurrently.
Please note that course organization and content may vary substantially from semester to semester and descriptions are not necessarily professor specific. Please contact the instructor directly if you have particular course-related questions.
Sections/Instructors
Guy-Uriel Charles
Readings in Ethics 611A.06
Fall 2009
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The Ethics of Politics and Politicians
This course will consider ethical issues in politics. Are politicians bound by ethical considerations: in drafting and passing legislation, representing their constituencies, their dealings with one another, their dealings with non-political institutions and the like. We will meet at my house and will examine relevant information on the topic including books, films, and articles. We might also examine real live politicians.
Kimberly D. Krawiec
Readings in Ethics 611A.05
Fall 2009
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Ethics & the Financial Crisis
This course considers the ethical issues implicated by financial crisis, including the current financial crisis. The following topics are illustrative of course coverage: risk-taking leading up to the crisis, financial innovation, government bailout, and compensation issues. The class meets seven times during the year, once each in September, October, November, January, February, March, and April. Class meetings are on Tuesday evenings (the exact dates to be decided) from 6:30-8:30, at various locations. At least one class meeting will be at my home. Course materials will include non-fiction, but popular, books about financial crisis. Students are required to prepare for, attend, and participate in all class meetings, and specifically to lead one class meeting during the year.
The first class will meet on September 29. Our first reading will be a classic in this genre: Michael Lewiss Liars Poker (available new or used from most bookstores). At our first meeting, well discuss future meeting dates and readings.
Doriane Lambelet Coleman, James E. Coleman Jr.
Readings in Ethics 611A.04
Fall 2009
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Law, Ethics & Innovations in Science and Medicine
This course considers the ethical issues, including the legal ethics, implicated by innovations in science and medicine. The following topics are illustrative of course coverage: the use of neurobiological technologies to detect crime before it happens; the use of genetic and genomic information in both forensic and predictive contexts relevant to the criminal process; the use of genetic engineering technology to manipulate human characteristics; brain doping; advances in organ transplantation; and the exportation of human subjects research to increase population diversity, to reduce costs, and to avoid associated regulatory requirements. The class meets seven times during the year, once each in September, October, November, January, February, March, and April. Class meetings are on Monday evenings from 6:30-8:30 at our home. Course materials typically include novels, substantial works of non-fiction, movies, and collected writing from the legal, scientific, and medical literatures. Students are required to prepare for, attend, and participate in all class meetings, and specifically to lead one class meeting during the year.
Lisa Kern Griffin
Readings in Ethics 611A.03
Fall 2009
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Prosecutorial Ethics
Prosecutorial Ethics
This year-long course will consider prosecutorial ethics, with a focus on federal prosecutors and white collar cases. We will first discuss the role of prosecutors, the formal and informal ethical rules that govern them, and prosecutorial independence. We will then consider the use of informants in investigations, prosecutorial discretion to indict, discovery issues, cooperating witnesses, and the conduct of trial. We will meet over dinner at my home to reflect on depictions of prosecutors in film and media, as well as decisions by prosecutors in recent cases.
Neil S. Siegel
Readings in Ethics 611A.02
Fall 2009
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Legal Ethics on Film
In this year-long course, we will meet at my home to view and discuss six movies implicating timeless questions in legal ethics. These issues will include, but will not be limited to, the duties that lawyers owe their clients, the roles and responsibilities of the lawyer in the community, whether and when the ends ever justify illegal means, and the relationship between law and morality. Films may include Judgment at Nuremberg, Michael Clayton, Mississippi Burning, My Cousin Vinnie, Philadelphia, To Kill a Mockingbird, Twelve Angry Men, and The Verdict.
James E. Coleman Jr., David F. Levi
Readings in Ethics 611A.01
Fall 2009
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Ethics in the Adversary System
This seminar will look at adversary systems in which cheating may reap large benefits or at least seem easier than adhering to what may seem like artificial ethical rules. The American legal system is such an adversary system, and we will spend much of our time considering circumstances in which we expect lawyers to forego the interests of their clients on behalf of some greater good. There are other areas of life that are also adversary systems subject to their own rules of conduct: professional sports, partisan politics, warfare, and business competition to name a few. We will look at some of these other systems with their own rules of engagement and their own temptations for violation and abuse. Ultimately we will be asking the question of how it is that one maintains a sense of perspective and restraint in the heat of battle. We begin with the now infamous lacrosse case and a consideration of prosecutorial ethics. We will look at the Arthur Anderson case and some of the new duties imposed on lawyers to expose wrongdoing by corporate clients. We may look at doping violations in baseball, Watergate and the excesses of partisan politics, and limits on interrogation in the War on Terror.