Gambrell Professionalism Award Winners
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| 1991
1. Virginia State Bar (Course on Professionalism) (1991)
This is a two day course on professionalism and the Code of Professional Responsibility, presented five times a year and required of all newly licensed members of the bar, including those admitted by reciprocity, within one year of attaining active status. The course aspires to impart the higher than minimum goals of professionalism through a series of lectures and workshops led by a faculty of the most eminent and respected lawyers and judges in the state.
The course text is divided into three major areas: a lawyer's relationship to the business aspects of practice; a lawyer's relationship to his or her clients; and a lawyer's relationship to the legal system in general. A course handbook containing introductory materials, course lecture outlines and various appendices is distributed to all attendees. The introductory chapter includes an overview of major disciplinary problems. The lawyer/business chapter includes sections on business development, fee arrangements and handling client funds and property. The lawyer/client chapter includes sections on independence, loyalty, avoiding conflicts, competence, maintaining clients, terminating employment and confidentiality. The lawyer/system chapter include sections on duty to the court, obligation of good faith relationships with lawyers and other parties and obligations to the profession and the community. The appendices include principles of professional courtesy, a review of the disciplinary process, procedures for the investigation of complaints and various bar information.
2. William & Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law (Legal Skills Program) (1991)
A required two year program that includes six courses: legal research; writing and analysis; introduction to appellate practice; interviewing, negotiating and counseling; alternative dispute resolution; and legal ethics. Students are divided into four working groups in a 16-member "law office" to represent a series of five carefully designed "clients," learning firsthand what it means and feels like to be responsible for the legal affairs of clients. Students plan a practice activity by considering the moral and ethical dilemmas they will face in the activity to at least as great an extent as they consider legal strategies and tactics. Faculty members serve as "senior partners."
3. Case Western Reserve University School of Law (Professionalism Program) (1991)
The professionalism program has five components: a first year orientation panel that provides students with the opportunity to meet other students and discuss how professionalism issues will affect them as law students and lawyers; first year professional responsibility problems that are presented in the context of each substantive course; first year speaker series (open to all students) covering topics such as the pressure of billable hours and the ethical dilemmas of lawyers with clients and witnesses who want to lie; film series about legal issues followed by discussion; and student evaluations and planning for evolution of program.
4. State Bar of Arizona (Peer Review and Diversion Program) (1992)
This program has three phases:
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Diversion Program Cases involving office management issues may be transferred to a probation-type program, freeing up the formal discipline system for more serious offenses and providing education and rehabilitation for individual lawyers.
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Peer-Review Program Provides a network of trained "mentor" lawyers in eight districts across the state to contact and counsel individual lawyers who display rude, offensive, and unprofessional behavior toward clients, other lawyers, court personnel, etc.
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Mandatory Professionalism Course All new lawyers are required to take the course within one year of being admitted. The course will be taught by lawyers who are respected for their demonstration of professionalism in practice and who are knowledgeable about the issues involved.
5. Nashville Bar Association (Colleagues Program) (1992)
This is a new program wherein 95 lawyers have been divided into 12 groups, each of which has one lawyer with more than 20 years experience, one with 5-10 years experience and a third with 10-20 years experience. All other participants have been practicing law for less than 5 years, with the vast majority having started in the past year.
Group meetings are held monthly. The experienced lawyers are asked to share the traditions that are part of practicing law in Nashville, answer the practical questions relating to relationships between lawyers, pass along the values of the profession, and guide in matters of general professional concern.
6. Cook County Bar Association (Cook County Bar Association/Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Liaison Committee) (1992)
The Liaison Committee seeks to provide preventative and curative assistance to help lawyers change their detrimental practice habits and to implement efficient office management systems. The Liaison Committee focuses on lawyers who are the subject of ARDC charges of multiple neglect or minor conversion or commingling of funds. The program format consists of a three part structure: The Liaison Committee; The Of Counsel Advisor; and The Expert Panel. All Liaison Committee intervention is initiated by referral from the ARDC. The Committee then assigns an "Of Counsel Advisor" to work with the lawyer, "Respondent."
To assist the Committee with problem cases, a panel of experts in the following fields is being developed: Career Counseling; Law Office Management; Psycho-Therapist; and Certified Public Accountant. The Of Counsel meets with the Respondent monthly to monitor his/her case list; discuss the respondent's progress with the assistance from the experts, if any; and to monitor how the Respondent is responding to or resolving pending ARDC complaints. The program handles approximately four respondents per year. To assess the impact of the program, the number of complaints filed against the attorney after involvement of the Committee is monitored for two years.
7. Georgia Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism (Town Hall Meetings) (1993)
A series of ten Town Hall Meetings was held around the state to assist and encourage lawyers, judges and legal academicians to come to a shared vision of the profession. The meetings attracted 673 lawyers and judges. Information from questionnaires from each meeting has been collated and compiled and will be used to focus breakout group discussions at the Fifth Annual Convocation on Professionalism in 1993.
8. Queen's Bench Bar Association (All in a Days Work) (1993)
An instructional video using vignettes and a study guide dealing with gender bias in the legal profession. The bar also presents training sessions to law firms and law schools and makes the tape available to other bar associations who wish to present it.
9. Temple University (Integrated Trial Advocacy & Professional Responsibility Program) (1993)
Students apply ethical precepts and evidentiary rules in trial vignettes, trial advocacy problems, a civil bench trial, three disciplinary hearings, a criminal jury trial and a jury trial involving a claim of lawyer malpractice. Each exercise contains both substantive and practical evidentiary and professional responsibility issues. The course materials for Evidence, Professional Responsibility and Trial Advocacy are completely integrated. One hundred forty-four students are participating in this year's program. Over one hundred had to be turned away because of space limitations. Professionalism, as well as ethics issues are raised.
10. Maryland State Bar Association (Professionalism - Beyond the Model Rules) (1994)
This is a mandatory course for new admittees. A volunteer faculty of forty judges and lawyers present the one-day course each fall and spring. The course combines videotaped vignettes, workshop discussions and individual presentations to give a "nuts and bolts" overview of law practice, highlighting the lawyer's relationship with the court, the client, the community and other lawyers. Seasoned practitioners provide practical advice on "real life" situations the new lawyer is likely to encounter, and focus on professional behavior. One of the goals is to create a "mentorship" environment that will continue into the new lawyer's career.
11. State Bar of California, Office of Client Relations (Educating Membership on the Importance of Good Client Relations) (1994)
There are a number of facets to this project, including the following: the bar has developed a presentation, "Good Client Relations: The Key to Success," which has been given over 20 times; the bar is working with six local bars to have in operation by July 1, 1994 a pilot program for the mediation of client-lawyer disputes; the bar is working with local bars to have local lawyers address community and civic groups on the nature of the client-lawyer relationship; the bar is planning to produce two videotapes, with accompanying written materials, focusing on developing good client relations and qualifying for MCLE credit in law practice management; and the bar has compiled a bibliography of client relations materials.
12. The American Inns of Court (AIC) (1994)
The Inns have adopted a modified British model of legal apprenticeship. Each AIC has four categories of members: Master of the Bench -- consisting of judges, lawyers and law professors with more than fifteen years experience; Barristers -- consisting of lawyers and law professors with from three to fifteen years experience; Associates -- consisting of lawyers with less than three years experience; and Pupils -- consisting of third-year law students.
Members are divided into "Pupillage Teams," consisting of one or two Masters, one or two Barristers, and Pupils or Associates. Each team is responsible for conducting one demonstration a year, focusing on a particular segment of the litigation process. The presentations are followed by discussion and critique. Also, each younger member of an AIC is assigned to a more experienced lawyer and to a judge, as mentors and persons with whom personal conversations can be had about the practice of law. The younger member spends time with his or her mentor each month, in court, in deposition, or in the office, observing and then discussing what has been observed.
13. New Hampshire Bar Association (Professionalism & Management: Keys to a Successful Law Practice) (1995)
This program was designed for solo and small firm practitioners to learn how to professionally manage a law practice. It provides participants with comprehensive knowledge and practical tools to effectively manage their firms and serve their clients. The design and implementation of the program is a cooperative effort of the bar association, law school, legal administrators group and risk management insurance carrier.
The program is a series of six, four hour workshops focusing on professionalism and law practice management. The workshops cover: Starting and Operating a Law Practice, Business Planning, Practice Systems and File Maintenance, Lawyer/Client Dynamics, Equipment and Resources and Making It Work in the Real World.
14. Seattle University School of Law (Professional Responsibility Integrative Component Clinic) (1995)
This program, run in conjunction with the Washington State Bar, allows students to investigate current disciplinary complaints. The clinic has a course room component where students learn about the disciplinary system. The seminar continues throughout the semester, focusing on the actual cases under investigation (confidentiality is maintained.) Students investigate, develop the facts necessary to make the probable cause determination and draft recommendations and "trial briefs" based on their findings. The program provides students a "real-world" understanding of the tensions and ambiguities of practice. With the cooperation of the Bar, the program emphasizes the educational continuum from law school into practice.
15. Law Offices of Goldstein and Baron (Family Law Clinic) (1995)
Set up within the firm to help alleviate the overload of cases that would otherwise be handled by the Law Foundation of Prince George's County, volunteer interns work under the direction and supervision of the firm's domestic relations lawyers. A firm lawyer signs all court documents and appears in court with the interns. Interns are given on-going training and are supported by the firm's legal assistants and support staff.
The Clinic has arranged with ancillary providers such as process servers and court reporters to offer their services free or at a discounted rate to its clients. Judges and Masters have also cooperated with the Clinic, hearing the cases early in the morning before the regular court docket.
16. Washington & Lee University School of Law (Professionalism Through Law and Literature) (1996)
This project to enhance professionalism through law and literature has two parts. One part is offered to upper level law students and one part is offered to law school alumni. Both parts use brief, accessible literary works to provide the starting point for discussion of professionalism and ethics issues. The law school course covers the rules and codes of professional responsibility and then focuses on three of Shakespeare's plays. The class discusses the legal themes and situations presented by the plays. The alumni program is taught over a weekend and includes round table discussion of professionalism and ethics in light of selected literary works. The program has been approved for two hours of CLE ethics credit.
17. American Judicature Society (Sidebar Program) (1996)
The American Judicature Society's annual "Sidebar" program is implemented every summer on a volunteer basis by practicing lawyers in cities nationwide. The two hour program promotes professionalism and civility among lawyers. Experienced judges offer their observations about good and bad examples of courtroom behavior with an audience made up primarily of law students who are working in the legal field during the summer. Sidebar participants stress the importance of professional courtesy and the ineffectiveness of ARambo@ tactics. This program provides a forum for interaction between law students and judges regarding professional behavior.
18. Mercer University School of Law (Woodruff Curriculum) (1996)
The Woodruff Curriculum is a three year curriculum for law schools designed and implemented by Mercer University School of Law. The primary objective of this curriculum is the instilling of a sense of professionalism in the students. The program took five years to design and implement, culminating in its introduction to the law school in 1990. While each course offers opportunities to teach professionalism, the following courses are designed specifically for the curriculum: a first year course in Legal Writing, Research and Advice, second and third year introductory workshops, Perspective on Lawyering, and the Advanced Skills courses. At the beginning of each year, students take one week workshops that have as a central objective, the communicating of an understanding of the role of the lawyer in society. In these courses, students see that good lawyering is a service to clients and a service to the community and that the ethics of practice come from these obligations of service.
19. Chicago-Kent College of Law (1997)
Professionalism Day is a required one-day program for second-year students at Chicago-Kent College of Law. At the beginning of the program, students receive a Professionalism Day binder that includes materials on topics such as developing a professional image, making professional contacts, planning a career and finding work/life balance. The program includes an opening videotape showing recent graduates in their legal careers. A panel discussion follows with four lawyers from varying legal organizations talking about "Strategies for Professional Excellence." Then students attend a break-out session of their choice on the topic, "Law as a Business." The breakout sessions are designed to educate students about how legal organizations (large firm, mid-size firm, small-solo firm, government, public interest, etc.) function. The breakouts are followed by a keynote address on "Civility, Respect and Relationship Building." The day ends with a reception where students and practitioners can mingle.
20. Oregon State Bar Association (1997)
The Oregon Supreme Court/Oregon State Bar Joint Commission on Professionalism was established by order of the Oregon Supreme Court in 1994. The purpose of the Commission is "to promote among lawyers and judges principles of professionalism, including civility and commitment to the elimination of discrimination within the judicial system to ensure that it equitably, effectively, an efficiently serves the people of Oregon." The primary mission of the Commission is educational.
The Commission has 15 members, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Oregon, an Associate Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for Oregon and the President of the Oregon State Bar. The 11 appointed members include 4 judges, a non-lawyer member appointed by the Chief Justice, 4 lawyers, a law school faculty member and a public member appointed by the Bar President.
The Professionalism Commission and its predecessor entities have produced and presented continuing legal education programs since 1993. Programs include: Professionalism in Oregon: The Georgia Model, Professionalism and the Peterson Report, Professionalism: An Impossible Dream?, Law As Business: Economics v. Professionalism and Dilemmas in Professionalism: Solving Real-Life Problems. The Commission also has participated in an orientation program on professionalism for incoming students at Willamette University College of Law, created a speakers bureau, drafted articles on professionalism for trade publications, appeared on local cable television and presented two hour programs on professionalism at the 1995 and 1996 annual meetings of the Oregon Circuit Judges Association.
21. New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in Law (1998)
The New Jersey Commission on Professionalism is a cooperative venture of the New Jersey Supreme Court, the New Jersey State Bar Association, and the state's three law schools. Each entity appoints a designated number of members (17 members in total) and the chair rotates between them every two years. Although New Jersey is a voluntary bar, the New Jersey State Bar Association has agreed to fund the Commission.
The Commission began its work in the fall of 1995, accomplishing the following during its three years of operation: the adoption of Principles of Professionalism, the development of a Professionalism Counseling Program, the introduction of professionalism concepts into substantive courses in New Jersey's Skills and Methods program for new lawyers, an annual symposium on professionalism, bringing together bar leaders, judges and faculty members, promulgation of a Lawyers' Pledge, beginning a law school mentor program, presenting "Lawyer of the Year" awards, continuing legal education programs, seminars, publishing a quarterly newsletter of Commission activities and serving as a resource center for bar associations across the state.
22. Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association & Foundation - Bench-Bar Conference (1998)
For the past 25 years, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association & Foundation has held a conference for members of the bench and the bar. The focus of the weekend retreat is the communication between the bench and the bar and discussion groups aimed at identifying solutions to problems in the judicial system. A focus of the programs in each of the 25 years has been lawyer professionalism. Attendance at the 25th Anniversary Conference to be held May 1-3, 1998 is expected to be 500.
The conference is conducted in a manner designed to give the judiciary and the lawyers the opportunity to discuss common problems matter-of-factly and on a person-to-person basis. This informality allows inter-professional relationships to develop between lawyers and judges. All area courts are represented, from the federal to the municipal level. All segments of the bar are involved.
The conference planners use the forum to educate the local bench and bar about new programs, such as an arbitration program. The conference has also led to the creation of informal conferences that are now available with judges at the local circuit courts.
23. University of Miami School of Law-Center for Ethics and Public Service (1998)
Founded in 1996, the Center for Ethics and Public Service is an interdisciplinary project devoted to teaching the values of ethical judgment, professional responsibility, and public service in the practice of law. The Center provides training to the law school and University as well as to Florida business, educational and legal communities.
The Center coordinates the first year ethics orientation program, participates in CLE, and organizes workshops and symposia. The Center is organizing symposia on ethics in business, government, and the law jointly with the School of Business Administration and is planning additional joint ventures with the School of Communications and the School of Medicine.
The Center is moving ahead on three new projects serving the Florida educational and legal communities. The Center is developing in-house ethics training and advisory programs with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and Legal Services of Greater Miami. The Center is planning innovative CLE programs to present participants with interdisciplinary training in ethics and professionalism. The Center is designing ethics instructional programs in conjunction with public and private schools.
24. Emory University Law School – Law School Professionalism Project (1999)
As an outgrowth of informal discussions about the level of professionalism with the law school community, during the 1988/1999 academic year, Emory University undertook to redesign and expand the program on "professionalism" offered at orientation for first year students. Concurrently with this redesign, Emory began a rethinking of the Student Honor Code with the object of basing the Code of Conduct upon the standards of ethics and professionalism required of members of the Bar.
At orientation, first year students met in small groups with volunteer members of the Bar and members of the law school faculty to discuss hypotheticals highlighting the kind of ethical dilemmas that they might face in law school. Materials were designed in collaboration with the Chief Justices’ Commission on Professionalism. The Commission also recruited lawyer participants. The lawyers received CLE professionalism credit for participating.
These sessions were repeated with the same small groups using new materials in October and February. AS a part of the discussion, we introduced a statement of values of our community to be included in our revised Code of Pre-Professional Conduct. The purposes of these sessions were to:
Demonstrate to the students, the common understanding between practitioners and legal academics of these issues; (b) to encourage the students to think in terms of their own values and standards of professionalism as pre-professionals and of their responsibility to uphold those values within our community.
This program will be repeated for first year students. Emory is also planning a program for second year students, building on the first year experience. In three years, all three law school classes should be actively involved in on-going discussions of professionalism and ethics throughout the year.
25. The Florida Bar’s Center for Professionalism and the Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism (1999)
In response to the 1986 ABA Report, "….In the Spirit of Public Service," and a 1995 survey by The Florida Bar on lawyer professionalism, The Florida Bar set a goal to establish a Center for Professionalism. The Center, created in 1996, was endorsed by The Florida Bar and the bar requested the Supreme Court of Florida create a commission, chaired by the Chief Justice (or designee), that would establish the policies for the Center and be its governing board. The bar’s Standing Committee on Professionalism provides resources to the Center in aiding implementation of its efforts. Daily operations for the Center are the responsibility of The Florida Bar and funding for the Center comes from the bar’s general fund.
The overriding objective of this entire project is to raise the professionalism aspiration of all lawyers, judges and law students in the state and ensure that the practice of law remains a high calling, enlisted in the service not only of the client, but of the public good as well.
Role of the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court of Florida’s Commission on Professionalism acts as a steering and long-range planning commission for the creation and implementation of professionalism programs and seminars, the commission oversees the development of judicial professionalism programs and the teaching of professionalism in law schools. The commission establishes the policies of the bar’s center and is its governing board. The commission meets at least three times per year to address issues being presented. Members of the commission also speak at functions throughout the state.
Role of the Center for Professionalism: The mission of the Center for Professionalism is to support and encourage law students, lawyers, and judges to exercise the highest levels of professional integrity in their relationship with clients, other lawyers, the courts and the public. This is being accomplished through the following:
Presentations by speakers, panelists, and facilitators at CLE events, law school orientations on professionalism, as well as mentor programs, articles and columns on professionalism have all served to heighten awareness of issues.
"Quality control" for the required CLE professionalism courses is being assured through (a) the review of the content of proposed professionalism courses by the Center’s staff; and (b) the introduction of professionalism materials developed by the Center for other CLE courses.
The Center is extending its focus to include the judiciary working through the existing judicial college by developing programs on issues of judicial professionalism. To date, four seminars have been presented with three more planned this year.
The Center serves as an archive and a clearinghouse for exchange of information regarding professionalism efforts past and present, local and national.
The Center has established the following: research library in professionalism, CLE seminars, database of research materials, On-line web based professionalism courses, distinguished lecturers, website access, and an ethics school (for diversionary discipline).
26. Palm Beach County Bar Association – Professionalism Council Peer Review (1999)
The function of the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s Professionalism Council ("Council") is to meet with lawyers who have conducted themselves in a manner inconsistent with the Ideals and Goals of Professionalism, adopted by the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar in 1990 or the Standards of Profession Courtesy adopted by the Palm Beach County Bar Association in 1990. The Council is a peer review group designed to promote compliance with the Ideals and Standards. The Council is composed of the Chief Judge, the Administrative Judge of the Circuit Civil Division, the Administrative Judge of the County Court, the President of the Palm Beach County Bar Association and a representative of the Florida Bar Board of Governors for Palm Beach County’s Judicial Circuit.
The Council was established by an Administrative Order. When a judge within the Palm Beach County Circuit determines that a lawyer has engaged in conduct inconsistent with the Ideals or Standards, the judge may refer the matter to the Council. If any lawyer observes conduct on the part of another lawyer that is inconsistent with the Ideals or Standards, the lawyer may request the Council to consider the matter. While judges refer matters directly to the Council, matters referred by lawyers are screened by the Palm Beach County Bar’s Professionalism Committee. The Professionalism Committee, in its screening of lawyer referrals, operates under Rules and Standards to provide for the efficient handling of lawyer referrals. The Professionalism Committee has developed forms for the referral of matters to the Council.
After the review by the Council, the Council publishes its findings on an anonymous basis in the Palm Beach County Bar Bulletin. Since its enactment in 1997, the Council has reviewed 20 matters. Though the Council has no authority to discipline any lawyer or to compel any lawyer to appear before it, in only one matter did the lawyer invited to attend the meeting fail to appear. In all other matters, the Council has reported positively on the review. The availability of the Council to review referrals is published from time to time by the Professionalism Committee on the bulletin boards of judges’ chambers and in the Palm Beach County Bar Bulletin.
27. The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division - Practicing with Professionalism (2000)
Practicing with Professionalism is a two-day Supreme Court mandated program for all newly admitted lawyers to The Florida Bar. The program is offered 11 times throughout the year around the state. Topics include: Formation and Termination of the Attorney-Client Relationship, Client Relations, Trust Accounting, Chemical Dependency/Stress Management, Advertising, Fees, and Professionalism (includes diversity and gender and racial bias).
The format of the program uses an LCD Freelance Graphics slide show, interspersed with video clips. Interaction is encouraged throughout the program, which focuses on professionalism within each topic area. All participants receive detailed course materials with updated case citations and bar contacts should problems arise.
How the Program Focuses on Professionalism: The objective of the program is to provide two full days of new lawyer training, with the second day being fully dedicated to professionalism. The information provided during the professionalism day provides specific, substantive and interactive training in areas that have been identified as those likely to be problematic for new lawyers. This new program specifically provides the necessary information to empower new lawyers with tools of professionalism, case studies, illustrate applications of these principals and access to informational sources should they have questions. This foundation should help to guide new lawyers through potential pitfalls of the profession, thereby reducing lawyer disciplinary actions, public complaints of unprofessional behavior, and ultimately enhance the image of the legal profession as a whole.
28. Genesee County Bar Association - Joint Program for Attorney Ethics and Professionalism (2000)
The Genesee County Bar Association and the Centennial American Inn of Court have undertaken many programs to educate local lawyers on professional standards and ethics. The programs have included inviting speakers to monthly membership meetings, publishing articles on professionalism in the Bar Beat, and working with judges regarding courtroom behavior of lawyers.
This year, the two organizations undertook a joint effort to have an Inn program team present a live reenactment of a program examining how to deal with the emotionally difficult client in the context of domestic relations actions. Following the program, the two organizations realized that the Inn could reach a much larger audience if it video taped its programs and provided them to the Bar for use during its "Lunch and Learn" series or by airing them on a local cable television station. The program selected for the initial videotape program is an hour-long skit involving analysis of lawyer advertising standards.
How the Program Focuses on Professionalism: The project is aimed primarily at younger lawyers to expose them to ethical problems and to encourage them to be aware of, and implement in their practices, the highest standards of legal ethics, civility and professionalism.
29. Stein Center for Law and Ethics, Fordham University School of Law - Fordham/Stein Center Conferences (2001)
Since 1993, Fordham Law School’s Stein Center for Law has conducted conferences addressing legal ethics and professionalism issues in particular practice areas. The conference topics have included Ethical Issues in Representing Older Clients (1993); Ethical Issues in the Legal Representation of Children (1995); and The Delivery of Legal Services to Low-Income Persons: Professional and Ethical Issues (1998). Prior to a conference, legal scholars and professionals are asked to submit a written article addressing a particular ethics or professionalism issue. At the conference, participants meet in small groups and in plenary session to discuss the issues and to make specific recommendations. At the end of the conference, all participants convene to discuss the recommendations and to decide which to adopt. After the conference, the recommendations, pre-conference articles, a summary of discussions, and post-conference articles are published as the "Proceedings of the Conference" in the Forham Law Review. The goals of the conferences are to develop written materials that enhance lawyers’ understanding of relevant ethics and professionalism issues, encourage lawyers to engage in "best practices" within the bounds of disciplinary rules, promote further discussion on these issues, and encourage courts, rule makers, and lawyers to take further action to promote ethical and professional practices.
The Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida Professionalism Committee was established in 1998 and is comprised of circuit and county judges, court officials, presidents of bar associations, and other members of the bar. The Professionalism Committee has worked in conjunction with the existing Professionalism Committee of the Jacksonville Bar Association to enhance professionalism in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
At the recommendation of the joint committees, the Chief Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit adopted the Statement of Professionalism, which advises members of the bar of the high standard of professionalism and civility in the Fourth Circuit. Copies of the Statement of Professionalism and the administrative orders are given to attorneys filing a civil action in Duval County and to attorneys in the State Attorney’s Office to give to defense counsel who appear in criminal cases.
In 1999, the joint committees established a Mentor Program, which is intended to increase the degree of professionalism and civility among lawyers by providing new attorneys guidance, experience, and expertise from more experienced attorneys. A mentor relationship may extend for a period of 6 months up to two years. To date, there are 53 mentors and 30 mentees in the program. In addition, the Fourth Circuit Professionalism Committee established a Professional Review Program to allow a judge or lawyer to report to a Professional Review Committee when a lawyer’s conduct, though not a violation of the Code of Professional Responsibility, does not meet expected standards in the Circuit. To date, the Professionalism Review Committee has had three complaints, all of which were resolved by a member of the Committee.
In 2000, the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida Professionalism Committee along with the Professionalism Committee of the Jacksonville Bar Association co-sponsored a Judicial Symposium to exchange ideas and questions about professionalism among judges and members of the bar. Participants included federal judges from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court, as well as judges from the Florida Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and circuit and county judges. A second symposium was held in February 2001.
31. East Bay Community Law Center - The Ethics and Professionalism Clinical Education Project (2002)
The East Bay Community Law Center ("EBCLC") is the community-based component of the clinical program at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. In 1988, Boalt students founded EBCLC to meet the growing needs of low-income clients for basic legal services and to broaden students’ educational opportunities by bridging the gap between legal theory and practice. Between 30 to 40 law students from Boalt Hall work at EBCLC each year under the direct supervision of experienced lawyers and clinicians in one of four practice areas: housing, welfare, HIV/AIDS and community economic development. Students are also enrolled in a concurrent clinical seminar entitled "Community Law Practice at EBCLC," during which they study and discuss the real life challenges facing EBCLC, its clients and the students working there.
In 1998, with support from Boalt Hall, EBCLC undertook the Ethics and Professionalism Clinical Education Project to more fully and directly incorporate ethics and professionalism instruction into the clinic and companion course. The course was substantially revised to integrate topics such as lawyer competence, attorney-client privilege and confidentiality, zealous advocacy, conflicts of interest and access to justice. The course and clinic develop students’ abilities to recognize the dilemmas that arise for lawyers in facing conflicts between their basic professional duties and other interests and values. Using a decision-making methodology developed at the clinic, students learn to identify, address and resolve these and other ethical and professionalism issues.
The goals of the Ethics and Professionalism Clinical Education Project are to 1) provide students a hands-on opportunity to learn ethics and professionalism; 2) deepen students’ understanding of ethics and professionalism by exploring these issues in a structured, live-client setting; 3) develop in law students the foundation to become reflective practitioners, a critical tool in making the transition from student to professional; 4) replicate the model in clinics at other law schools to increase the breadth of its success and learn from the experience of others; and 5) enhance the profession as a whole by helping to educate the next generation of lawyers to practice in a more civil and professionally responsible manner.
32. Yale Law School - Lawyering Ethics Clinic (2002)
The Lawyering Ethics Clinic at Yale Law School provides free legal services to people who have filed grievances against Connecticut lawyers with the Statewide Grievance Committee. In Connecticut, there is no government or bar-sponsored entity charged with prosecuting complaints of lawyer misconduct. Therefore, the complainant, who is often a layperson, has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that the lawyer has violated a rule of professional conduct. The Lawyering Ethics Clinic intercedes to provide complainants with counsel so that they may more accurately and effectively present their claims. At the Clinic, law students, supervised by two faculty members, decide which disciplinary cases to solicit for representation, prepare retainer agreements and necessary filings, interview witnesses, conduct legal research, draft hearing briefs, prepare witnesses, collect documentary evidence, and act as lead counsel at administrative hearings. The Clinic also dedicates class time to discussions about rules governing lawyer misconduct and the grievance process.
The goals of the Clinic are to (1) provide law students with direct experience regarding ways that ethical issues arise in the everyday practice of law; (2) provide lay persons with legal counsel in the grievance process to ensure that meritorious claims of ethics violations are clearly and effectively presented for review by the Statewide Grievance Committee; (3) provide law students with an opportunity to develop their own ethical conduct when representing clients. The Clinic enhances professionalism by educating soon-to-be lawyers about their ethical responsibilities and allowing them to practice ethical and professional behavior before becoming members of the bar. The Clinic also improves the public’s perception of lawyers by allowing clients to effectively voice their grievances and by demonstrating that lawyers are willing to challenge other lawyer’s unprofessional conduct.
33. Campbell University School of Law's First-Year Professionalism Development Series: Talking with Lawyers About Professionalism (2003)
Campbell University School of Law's First Year Professionalism Development Series: Talking with Lawyers About Professionalism is a comprehensive professionalism experience during the first year of study. During the fall semester, students meet every other week in sessions that combine videotaped presentations and discussions with lawyers and law professors about a lawyer's role as a fiduciary, advocate, interviewer, counselor and negotiator. During the break between their first and second semesters, students take part in a three-day interactive simulation program that explores ethical and professionalism issues in the context of a marital dissolution. In the simulation, students experience firsthand the professional tensions that lawyers confront in managing their multiple and sometimes conflicting goals. During the spring semester, students meet every other week with lawyers and business and personal plight clients to engage in "story-telling" sessions, similar to the types of discussions that used to occur in law firms at the end of the day when lawyers still had time to talk to each other. Topics of these sessions include: "Professionalism from the Perspective of Business Clients," "Representing Clients Engaged in Questionable Business Practices," and "Professionalism from the Perspective of Personal Plight Clients."
34. Houston Bar Association Professionalism Program (2003)
The Houston Bar Association's Professionalism Program was formalized in 1989 to promote increased professionalism among Houston Bar Association members in their relationships with each other, the judiciary and the public. The Program's activities, which are coordinated under the guidance of the HBA professionalism committee, include: Professionalism Day, "All Ethics" CLE programs, judicial polls, mentoring and clerkship programs and Bench Bar Conferences. In addition, each issue of the HBA's journal, The Houston Lawyer, includes "Profiles in Professionalism," featuring distinguished members of the legal profession giving their personal views on professionalism, and each year one of the journal's six issues is devoted to professionalism and ethics.
In 1989, the HBA Board of Directors unanimously adopted a professionalism mandate that urges all HBA members to uphold the highest standards when dealing with clients, other lawyers and the courts. Copies of this mandate are given to new HBA members and new county judges, and are available to attorneys and the public. In 2003, the HBA began providing copies to every student in a professional responsibility class at the three Houston law schools.
35. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism at the University of South Carolina (2003)
The Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism was established at the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1999. The Center's initiatives are largely aimed at disseminating information and providing opportunities for sharing ideas that will lead students, lawyers, judges and academics to think more frequently and more carefully about professionalism issues. The Center has developed a national professionalism website, organized national conferences on professionalism, published professionalism pamphlets for first-year and graduating law students, presented continuing legal education programs, organized co-curricular programs for law students and hosted in-residence jurists and practitioners. The Center also sponsors an annual professionalism essay contest and clinical program professionalism award. The Center continues to develop and implement new initiatives to help positively influence the future conduct of students, lawyers and judges.
36. Southern Illinois University School of Law's Professionalism Development Workshop Series for First-Year Law Students (2004)
Southern Illinois University School of Law’s Professionalism Development Workshop Series for First-Year Law Students is designed to introduce first-year students to the major ethical issues they will face as legal professionals and to provide students with structured information and guidance on how to become competent professionals. In the fall semester, students attend a series of ethics and competence-building workshops including: An Introduction to the Law School Student Conduct Code, An Introduction to Legal Ethics, Time Management and Active Learning Skills, and Preparing for a Law School Exam. Mid-semester, the first-year class drafts a Statement of Professional Commitment, which it pledges its commitment to during an induction ceremony attended by the local bench and bar. The spring semester workshops build on the foundations of the previous semester and add a series of career development workshops that introduce students to opportunities and expectations in legal employment. In the second and third years, professionalism training is incorporated into the curriculum and is emphasized in the clinical and externship programs.
37. Wake Forest University School of Law’s Professionalism Program (2004)
Wake Forest University School of Law’s Professionalism Program is a comprehensive program that emphasizes the importance of professionalism from orientation through the third year of law school. Prior to entering law school students are asked to read a book where the main character is a role model for lawyering. During orientation, students meet in small groups with faculty members to discuss professionalism issues raised in the book and the responsibilities that students and lawyers assume as they enter the legal profession. During orientation week, students also work on a pro bono project within the community, such as a Habitat for Humanity home, and take an oath of professionalism administered by a judge at a formal ceremony. During the fall and early spring semester students attend “First Thursday” professionalism sessions, which focus on an array of professionalism issues such as pro bono obligations, civility, substance abuse and quality of life issues. Wake Forest continues to emphasize professionalism in the second and third year curriculum and through extra-curricular activities, such as legal clinics and an informal “Conversations With . . .” series, which brings lawyers and judges to the school to speak to students about why they became lawyers and their experiences in practice.
38.Duke University School of Law’s Blueprint for Lawyer Education and Development (2005)
To further Duke Law School’s goal of producing “well-built” lawyers, the Duke Blueprint to Lawyer Education and Development (LEAD), affirms Duke’s commitment to the seven Blueprint virtues and its expectation that students will internalize them and carry them into their professional careers. The Blueprint principles entreat students to Engage Intellectually, Act Ethically, Lead Effectively, Build Relationships, Serve the Community, Practice Professionalism, and Live With Purpose.
The Blueprint plays a crucial role in all student programming, crossing departmental boundaries and inspiring activities throughout the school. Woven throughout students’ entire academic experiences, the Blueprint is introduced to admitted students before they enroll, so that they make their decision to attend Duke with an appreciation of the emphasis that is placed on professionalism. Once they arrive, students quickly learn that the Blueprint underlies student programs and interactions throughout their academic tenure. Blueprint programming includes: First-Year Orientation, Advising Sessions, Professionalism Mentoring, Professionalism Retreats, a Reading in Ethics course, Ad-hoc Seminars, Focused Professionalism Course, Honor Week, Community Roundtables and Professionalism Awards.
39. University of St. Thomas School of Law’s Mentor Externship (2005)
The Mentor Externship Program is one of the most distinctive and innovative components of the University of St. Thomas School of Law, focusing on the highest ideals of the legal profession. The Program has four primary objectives: 1) To instill in students a better understanding of the responsibilities of being a professional; 2) To provide students with both an experiential window through which to view the professional world and exposure to the diverse spectrum of work that lawyers and judges do; 3) To create an intergenerational conversation about the practice of law and the profession; and 4) To provide students with the opportunity to share with other students and full-time faculty what they are observing and learning through their mentor experiences.
In each year of law study, every student is paired with respected lawyers and judges in the community. Mentors introduce students to a wide range of lawyering tasks and judicial activities and share with them the traditions, ideals, and skills necessary for a successful career. Each pair is required to engage in a number of lawyering or judicial activities together. Through this hands-on interaction with the bench and bar, students can draw on the skills of a more senior member of the profession to better prepare for life as a lawyer. The environment provides a “real world” framework for each student to test his or her understanding and expectations of professionalism in a way the traditional classroom or lecture cannot capture.
40. Stetson University College of
Law's Student Leadership Development Program (2006)
The Student Leadership
Development Program at Stetson University College of Law consists of three main components:
1) a Student Leadership Development Committee, responsible for leadership programming on campus;
2) the Leadership Development Educational Series, which consists of monthly luncheon programs
and a special event or retreat for leadership credit during the academic year; 3) the Leadership
Development Certificate, presented during the Honor & Awards Ceremony prior to the Commencement
ceremony to students who participate in 10 or more leadership programs in their law school career.
From the moment a student matriculates into Stetson’s campus culture, they repeatedly see and hear that professionalism and high standards for interpersonal interactions are expected both on and off campus. To this end, the program facilitates interaction between law students and legal practitioners, members of the judiciary, individuals in government service, esteemed faculty members, and other partners in the legal field in a way that promotes a student’s learning of what is acceptable and appropriate. Students realize that their legal education gained in the classroom is only part of what is necessary to be successful in their future career paths. The skills presented through the program help enhance a student’s ability to interact with others, communicate effectively, make good decisions, and be a positive and contributing member of the profession.
41. Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s
Professionalism Program (2006)
In 2002, Thomas M. Cooley Law School adopted a broad and far-reaching Professionalism Plan designed to help
create a culture of professionalism and service-oriented culture in the law school. It contained 18 initiatives,
each an independent project, which together comprised a deliberate plan to take a student from orientation through
graduation with a focus on ethics and professionalism. The initiatives undertaken by Cooley include: creating a
Center for Public Service and Professionalism, establishing a Standing Professionalism Advisory Committee, reshaping
the class on Professional Responsibility, implementing a professionalism and career review for first-year students,
creating a student-run mediation board to address conflicts between students, expanding the roles of lawyer/mentors
in each student’s development and creating a student ethical oath and standards of professionalism. All 18 initiatives
are either completed or in progress and so Cooley is awash in projects, services and student-led activities that have
made ethics and professionalism part of the school’s everyday life.
42.
Memphis Bar Association’s Leadership Forum (2006)
The Memphis Bar Association Leadership Forum is a nine-month experiential leadership program for lawyers who
have been in practice for three to eight years. The mission of the Forum is to: 1) develop the leadership skills
of attorneys in their early years of practice; 2) empower those attorneys to use their leadership skills to make
greater contributions to the Memphis community and the legal profession; 3) model and practice the highest standards
of the legal profession; and 4) encourage diversity in the practice of law and the building of relationships among
attorneys of diverse backgrounds.
The Leadership Forum begins with a full-day retreat in September at which leadership concepts are introduced and participants get to know one another. Monthly sessions from October through April are held at various locations around the city exploring topics such as Communication Skills, Negotiation, Attorneys Roles in the Community, Balancing Work and Life, and Public Trust and Confidence in the Judicial System. In addition, participants are divided into smaller groups and assigned a mentor. Each small group is charged with developing and implementing a community service project.
43. Indianapolis Bar Association Professionalism Initiative (2007)
The Indianapolis Bar Association (IBA), aided by grants from the Indianapolis Bar Foundation, launched a Professionalism Initiative in January 2002 to promote positive lawyer images in the community and eliminate client distrust and dissatisfaction. Some of the initiatives undertaken by the Association include: 1) the Tenets of Professional Courtesy, which are distributed to lawyers and displayed in legal offices and courtrooms and serve as a benchmark for professional demeanor within the legal community; 2) the Bar Leader Series, a leadership development and professional enhancement program for young lawyers in their first three to ten years of practice; 3) the Applied Professionalism Course for New Attorneys, which is a semi-annual full-day program geared to attorneys in their first three years of practice; 4) the “Surviving and Thriving in the Practice of Law,” day-long program entitled for third-year law students; 5) Judicial Criticism Response, which educates the public and responds to instances of perceived unfair criticism of judges; 6) Lawyer Criticism Response, which educates the public in instances where an attorney has been unfairly criticized within the media; 7) a Professionalism Award, which was created in 2004 to honor excellence in the Indianapolis Bar Association; 8) Lawyers Care Project, which has sent more than 200 care packages to members of the Indiana National Guard serving in the Middle East.
The goal of the Initiative is to reduce image or perception-related barriers that may a) prevent some practitioners from rendering a high quality of service in the practice of law, b) prevent the public from obtaining legal advice, and c) create distance in some attorney-client relationships. All of the activities listed above stress honesty, integrity, and service, which are the benchmarks of professionalism.
44. Vermont Law School’s General Practice Program (2007)
Vermont Law School’s General Practice Program (GPP), established in 1987, is a two-year certificate program that integrates substantive law, professional skills and professional responsibility using a simulated-based methodology. Students function as practicing attorneys in a small law firm over a two-year period, and learn by doing the tasks of general practitioners in their daily representation of clients. A team of 12 faculty members act as senior partners and guide and evaluate student performance. The GPP integrates professional skills and values with 13 substantive areas of law—mostly those common to general practitioners, such as domestic relations, business planning, estates and bankruptcy. A mentorship component, which pairs first year GPP students with local practitioners was added to the program in 2004 and melded with the ABA Mentoring Certificate Program in 2006 in order to provide students and mentors an opportunity to discuss issues such as what it means to be a lawyer, the ethical pitfalls in fee arrangements, civility among attorneys, the ethics of client development and marketing a law practice.
The goals of the GPP are to provide an alternative to the traditional law school curriculum by allowing students to create a sense of professional self while still in law school. More than being simply repositories of substantive knowledge, students actually practice the skills needed for effective lawyering. They learn the importance of ethical conduct and the complexities involved in resolving ethical issues. By putting professionalism issues front and center, the program communicates to students that issues of professional conduct deserve study and reflection. This foundation assists in their continued development throughout the rest of their professional lives.
45. Tenth Judicial District/Wake County Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee (2007)
In 1991, the Tenth Judicial District and Wake County Bar Association established a Professionalism Committee with the goal of identifying and addressing issues affecting members of the local bar in the broadest sense of professional responsibility, including the member’s obligation to the system of justice, their clients, themselves, their colleagues, and their community. Some of the projects the Committee has undertaken include: 1) the annual Joseph Branch Professionalism Award, which was established in 1991 to honor attorneys who are universally recognized as exemplifying the ideals of professionalism displayed by Joseph Branch, former Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court; 2) development of a Professionalism Creed, which was adopted by the Bar Association in 1997 and which is distributed to all new members; 3) implementation of the Professionalism Support Initiative, which provides confidential peer counseling for attorneys and judges perceived to have evidenced a lack of professionalism; 4) implementation of an annual round-table discussion on ethics and professionalism issues; and 5) organization of a county-wide mentoring program.
The Committee helps promote professionalism by: 1) recognizing lawyers who exemplify professionalism in their practices; 2) promoting relationships among lawyers who might not otherwise have professional contact with each other; 3) building a strong relationship and rapport between the Bar and the bench; and 4) recognizing and addressing quality of life issues.
