VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY  SCHOOL OF LAW

JOHN POTTS, PROFESSOR OF LAW

L e g a l _P r o f e s s i o n 

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Spring 2009 Syllabus

page two

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Schedule

____The first class meets Monday, January 12, 2009, at 11:40 A.M., in Room 160, Benson Classroom. The class schedule is 11:40 A.M.-12:30 P.M., Mondays & Wednesdays.

____There are 14 class weeks over a period of 16 weeks or so.

General

____Legal Profession covers the formally posited model ethics rules of the American legal profession and interpretation of those rules by courts. The course also considers underlying ethical norms to a limited extent. Who, after all, would trust a person armed with "the law" but lacking virtue?

____There is a reading assignment for the first class.

____Students are called on randomly.

____If you would like to talk to me, feel free to stop by my office. There are times when I work in the library or at home. _If you have trouble finding me, send an email suggesting a time to meet that is convenient for you. My email address is:

john.potts@valpo.edu

____Email will be sent to your official valpo.edu address. If you prefer another email address, the law school will arrange for your law school email to be forwarded. See John Obermann if this is the case.

Required Reading

____1. Cochran and Collett, Cases and Materials on The Legal Profession (latest edition, and latest supplement, if any)

____2. Morgan and Rotunda, Eds., Selected Standards on Professional Responsibility (Foundation Press) (latest edition).

____The model rules for lawyers and for judges are assigned by the main text and should be studied with special care when they come up. The comments on the rules are also assigned.

____It would be good to read through all the assigned ethics rules quickly early in the course, for orientation.

____All chapter references below are to the Cochran & Collett casebook.

____The syllabus will be adjusted from time to time, often to reflect our progress.

Class attendance

____Please read the Attendance Policy.

Final Exam

____There will be a 2 1/2 hour examination at the end of the semester._ It will be multiple-choice.

____You may have with you and use any printed or written material you wish. You may not have with you a computer or any other computational device (e.g., a calculator).