Professional Responsibility

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) hosts and facilitates the creation of CALI Lessons, a library of over 950 interactive legal tutorials written by law professors and geared towards law students. CALI is a 501(c)(3) non-profit consortium of law schools, law libraries and related organizations. Almost every United States law school is a member of CALI and they make up the bulk of our membership.

This course looks at the regulation of the legal profession; the lawyer-client relationship, from formation to termination; how to deal with conflicts of interest; and the rules relating to withholding and disclosing confidential information.

Acing Professional Responsibility provides a dual benefit to law students who, to become licensed lawyers, have to pass both a law school exam in a Legal Ethics course as well as the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). To prepare for the law school examination, there are pages of text, numerous outlines, bullet points, sample essay questions and answers, and mini-checklists to learn the basics and fine points of Professional Responsibility. In addition, this book discusses all recent ABA Formal Ethics Opinions. The Acing book also enables students to quickly recall and pass the MPRE. The materials are current through the most recent Model Rules amendments in 2018.

This text is designed to help a law student recognize and understand the basic principles and issues of law covered in a law school course on professional responsibility. It can be used both as a study aid when preparing for classes and as a review of the subject matter when studying for an examination. The law is succinctly stated, and exceptions to the rules are stated in the text. Rules and exceptions have purposely been condensed to facilitate quick and easy recollection. For an in-depth study of a point of law, citations to major student texts are given.

Helping law students score higher on law school tests, the Exam Pro Series offers sample exams and corresponding answers with detailed analysis. Each Exam Pro title is authored by a leading law professor and recognized expert in an area of law and contains multiple choice and essay questions based on current court decisions. Detailed explanations for each answer describe the best possible choice as well as red herring answers, which helps increase law student understanding of a topic and build exam skills.

This Gilbert Law Summary is designed to serve three groups. The first is law students taking their required course in Professional Responsibility or preparing for the bar-required Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. Second are persons considering a legal education who want to appreciate what it means to have a law license, what issues lawyers face, and how the law requires lawyers to deal with those issues. Third are lawyers who want a handy place to turn when they face a question in practice and need help finding quick answers and relevant authority to go deeper. Using the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, the ABA Model Code of Judicial Conduct, and the ALI Restatement (Third): The Law Governing Lawyers as key authorities, the author puts what otherwise could be abstract rules into context in order to illuminate what led to adoption of each rule, why the rules require what they do, and where changes in lawyer regulation may be coming. Substantive issues covered include how a lawyer and a client form their relationship, what fiduciary duties are and which ones a lawyer owes to his or her clients, how a lawyer markets and gets paid for his or her services, and various ways both confidentiality obligations and conflicts of interest can arise. In addition, the author calls attention to a lawyer's obligations to a client's opponents, courts and other tribunals, and the broader public interest, as well as a final chapter on the special responsibilities of judges.

The Professional Responsibility audio lecture explains regulation of attorneys, bar admission, unauthorized practice, competency, discipline, judgment, layer-client relationship, representation, and withdrawal. It also discusses conflicts, disqualification, clients, client interests, successive and effective representation, integrity, candor, confidences, secrets, and past and future crimes. Other topics include perjury, communications, witnesses, jurors, the court, the press, trial tactics, prosecutors, market, solicitation, advertising, law firms, fees, client property, conduct, and political activity.

Many law professors aim to probe deep ethical issues in class. But they also need to cover the material that the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination requires. The Rotunda Nutshell fulfils that need as it digests the Model Rules in an engaging, analytical, and often critical way. In a surprisingly pithy manner, this book places the Rules in an historic context that lets the student understand problems with prior versions of the Rules, which led to the present version. The Nutshell also analyzes the American Law Institute's Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, Third. This approach frees up precious class time for important normative issues. And, this Nutshell helps your students come up with better answers to your Socratic questions than you anticipated. This book has proved so popular as an explanation of the basic principles of legal ethics that it has been translated into Japanese and used there to teach American legal ethics.

As the legal profession undergoes structural changes, longstanding principles of ethics still govern the day-to-day lives of practicing lawyers. This new Hornbook on professional responsibility provides both a snapshot of ongoing systemic changes and a thorough examination of the fundamentals of lawyer and judicial ethics. As a multi-dimensional work by scholarly experts in several fields, the Hornbook (1) begins with the changing environment in which legal services are provided in the modern economy; (2) continues with a theoretical grounding of legal ethics in moral philosophy; (3) offers empirical evidence and discussion about professional formation and moral development; (4) provides a comprehensive analysis of the law of lawyer ethics; (5) includes a rich discussion of the modern law of legal malpractice, and (6) concludes with exploration of the rules of judicial ethics.

Rhode and Luban’s Legal Ethics Stories serves as a reminder that ultimately law is about human beings, not doctrines or even cases, because the human lives it addresses are real and vivid. The stories typify issues that most lawyers confront in one form or other at some time in their careers. This collection of 10 significant ethics rulings reveals the rich background surrounding salient cases on issues of: Race Gender Class Taxation Bankruptcy Defense representation Confidentiality Practicing with law partners Greed The story behind each case provides a look into its immediate impact as well as its continuing importance in shaping the law.

Legal Malpractice Law in a Nutshell charts the dynamic field of lawyer professional liability. With reference to recent cases and statutory developments, the book covers prominent causes of action (including professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud), the role of experts in malpractice litigation, theories of liability to nonclients, affirmative defenses, damages, and fee forfeiture. The book also explores the vicarious liability of lawyers and law firms, conflicts of interest, strategies for reducing errors and claims, and the role of malpractice insurance.

This Short & Happy Guide explains PR so that the Rules are remembered, not memorized. Key PR concepts are taught by grouping the Rules into 21 easily digestible concepts labeled “Anchors,” reinforced with numerous true to life examples in the “Tell and Shows,” and then summed up through actionable take home points in “Anchors Aweigh.” The illustrations employ visual learning in spotlighting core PR ideas. Whether studying for a PR final, or preparing for the MPRE, or simply needing a PR refresher, the Short & Happy Guide provides an enjoyable, engaging, and fulfilling read.

Gain the advantages of office hours with professors on your own schedule! The West Academic Office Hours series is a collection of short audio and video tracks that tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students. The professors answer students’ most frequently asked office hour questions. With clear and easy-to-understand explanations, these professors will help you reach that “lightbulb” moment of comprehension, just as they have with their own students in their own offices. You now have virtual faculty explanations available at the click of a button! The Office Hours series features a variety of notable law faculty explaining these tough topics in new and thoughtful ways.

Gain the advantages of office hours with professors on your own schedule! The West Academic Office Hours series is a collection of short audio and video tracks that tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students. The professors answer students’ most frequently asked office hour questions. With clear and easy-to-understand explanations, these professors will help you reach that “lightbulb” moment of comprehension, just as they have with their own students in their own offices. You now have virtual faculty explanations available at the click of a button! The Office Hours series features a variety of notable law faculty explaining these tough topics in new and thoughtful ways.

This Short and Happy Guide is meant to provide students with the essential concepts and overarching themes that are most frequently tested on the MPRE. The Guide covers the rules of professional responsibility giving students the best introduction they can have as they begin their exam preparation.

This audio lecture allows you to assimilate the essentials of the professional responsibility course at your convenience - listen while working, commuting, exercising or just relaxing. The information and ideas you struggled with previously are now brought to life simply and succinctly. The audio also provides exam tips to maximize your performance. This audio lecture is time saving, convenient and effective.

The Weekend MPRE book and video course is designed to prepare users for the MPRE in a single weekend, primarily through thoughtful explanations of the most tested aspects of the rules of professional responsibility. This package includes either a softcover print book or an eBook, along with 12-month digital access to 14 videos, two practice exams, quizzes, and A Short & Happy Guide to the MPRE. This package gives you everything you need to prepare for the MPRE and pass the first time!

New features:
Updated for the New Style MPRE (longer questions)
Research-based Method for Decoding Complex Questions
Proven Strategy for Eliminating Wrong Answers