2019-2020 Registration Guide

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. Course Description: 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.