Ethics and Professional Responsibility – JURI 580

Course Description

A study of the authority and duties of lawyers in the practice of their profession as advocates, mediators, and counselors; and of their responsibility to the courts, to the bar, and to their clients, including a study of the various ABA standards of professional conduct.

Rationale

This course is designed to integrate a biblical worldview into the study of ethics and professional responsibility. Legal professionals often face ethical dilemmas and must be equipped with the tools to make correct decisions when faced with difficult choices. The student studying this course will gain a proper understanding of how ethics integrates the legal profession and the importance of a Christian worldview when engaged in the profession of law.

Course Assignment

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to create an original post in response to the provided prompt for each Discussion. Each original post must be at least 400 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. Each original post must be supported by at least 2 citations in current Bluebook format. In addition to the original post, the student is required to reply to 2 other classmates’ original posts. Each reply must be at least 200 words and be supported with at least 1 citation in current Bluebook format.

The student will select 10 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. For each selected rule, he/she will use a biblical passage that illustrates the moral duty imposed by Scripture on the Christian legal professional. In at least 250 words for each of the 10 rules, the student will explain how each particular passage relates to the model rule selected. For each rule, the student will indicate whether the biblical standard would impose greater ethical responsibility on the Christian legal professional than the model rule. This assignment must be submitted in current Bluebook format.

Each quiz will cover the Learn material for the assigned modules. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 25 multiple-choice, true/false questions, and have a 1-hour time limit.

The student will select two of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct.  The student will then write a 2-3 page paper explaining the importance of the selected rules, the ethical policies that form the foundation of the rules, the sources of those policies, and how those policies can be interpreted through the lens of scripture. This assignment must be submitted in current Bluebook format.

The Final Quiz will cover the Learn material for all 8 modules. It will be open-book/open-notes, contain 20 multiple-choice, true/false questions and 3 essay questions, and have a 2-hour and 45-minute time limit.