Registration Guide 2017-2018

Professional Responsibility

Professional Responsibility is a required course. It must be taken by Day Division and

Evening Division students any time after the first year.

Power of courts over the legal profession, admission to practice, lawyer

discipline, peer regulation, law firms, lawyer-client relationship, withdrawal, fees, division of

fees, confidentiality, conflict of interest, competence and diligence, legal malpractice, limiting

liability, raising claims and defenses, ethics in presenting evidence, fraud, perjury, duty to court

and adverse parties, role of lawyer as advisor, intermediary, negotiator and mediator,

preservation of client’s funds and property, duty to use I.O.L.T.A. account, advertising and

solicitation, contact with unrepresented persons and public service. Judicial ethics will be

referred to only briefly in class. Students are expected to actively participate in the class

discussion. The

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

will be the primary source, but reference

will also be made to differences in the

Massachusetts Rules

, the

Code of Professional

Responsibility

and common law principles.