Syllabus for Professional Responsibility -- Spring 2016 -- Prof. Janicke
Required books: (1) Gillers, Regulation of Lawyers: Problems of Law and Ethics (10th
Edition, Aspen), either eBook or hardcover; (2) Lerman et al., Ethical
Problems In The Practice Of Law: Model Rules, State Variations, And
Practice Questions (Aspen, 2015-16), paperback
Additional
materials will be posted on the
www.law.uh.edu/faculty/pjanicke.
Janicke
faculty
homepage,
The course will address the most common ethical issues arising in the practice of law,
primarily in four broad areas: Loyalty to clients; confidentiality; avoidance of
conflicts of interest; and duties to the courts and the justice system.
In view of the likelihood that many students will be taking the MPRE in March 2016, the
topics in the class schedule will be arranged to provide help in preparing for that
exam, by dealing early in the semester with the topics most often encountered in
the MPRE. Each Monday class from the beginning of the semester until spring
break will be devoted to one or two such topics, using a combination of
PowerPoint presentations and practice questions; Wednesday classes before spring
break, and all classes after spring break, will fill in the remaining course materials.
In the following details of coverage, parenthetical numbers generally refer to pages in the
Gillers casebook; "R" numbers refer to rules appearing in the ABA Model Rules
of Professional Conduct (see the Lerman et al. book); "suppl." refers to a case in
the list of supplemental cases which will be posted with the class materials on the
Janicke faculty homepage mentioned above.
First class -- Jan. 20 Discussion of class arrangements. Introduction to Avoidance of
conflicts of interest for concurrent clients. R. 1.7, 1.8.
Week of Jan. 25: Continue Avoidance of conflicts of interest for concurrent clients. R.
1.7, 1.8.
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions. Gillers Chap. 5: Lawyer Realtor
(150); Neville (151); Murder One (166); Officer Schwarz (167); Cuyler (169)
Wednesday: Gillers Chap. 5: Murder At the Ballgame (176); Wheat (177);
Represent Us Both (191); Same Page (191); Restraint of Trade (192); Fiandaca
(192); Simpson (206).
Week of Feb. 1: Avoidance of conflicts regarding former clients. R. 1.9. Imputation of
conflicts to other lawyers in a firm. R. 1.10. Ethics of legal fees and fee-splitting. R. 1.5
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions
Wednesday: Gillers Chap. 6: Divorce and Default (219); Do I Still Owe (220);
Stop the High Rise (220); Analytica (222); You Don't Know Anything (234); Can
We Hire (235); Cromley (236). Gillers Chap. 4 (Fees): Brobeck (99); What Are
You Worth (105); In re Fordham (106); A Radical Proposal (116); Goldfarb (118);
Evans (123).
Week of Feb. 8: R. 1.6; R. 1.4; R. 1.15 -- Duties to clients: Communication. R. 1.4.
Confidentiality R. 1.6. Management of client funds held in trust by lawyers. R. 1.15
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions. Gillers Chap. 2: Innocent Lifer
(21); HIV Positive (22); Dig They Must (23); Perez (25); Warhaftig (521).
Wednesday: Gillers: Slip and Fall (33); Upjohn (34); Taylor (49); Bakery
Machinery (51); Nichols (55); Ms. Niceperson (60); Asher (suppl.); Pierson
(suppl.); Wilson (suppl.)
Week of Feb. 15: R. 5.4, 7.1, 7.5: Naming and organizing of law firms. R. 7.5;
arrangements with non-lawyers. R. 5.4. Lawyer advertising and solicitation. R. 7.2, 7.3.
Improper restricting of future representations. R. 5.6
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions.
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Wednesday: Ohralik (605); Zauderer (610); Shapero (614). Additional cases
posted on faculty home page.
Week of Feb. 22: Advocacy and duties to the courts. R. 3.1 through 3.7. Communicating
with unrepresented persons. R. 4.2. Communicating with represented person without
permission. R. 4.3
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions. Gillers Chap. 7: Out Carousing
(266); Nix (269); The Lecture (280); In the Matter of Clinton (288);
Wednesday: Gillers Chap. 7: Did You Communicate (295); The Eyewitness (304);
Playing Games (306); Maxwell's Silver Handle .38 (314). Gillers Chap. 3: Slip
and Fall Redux (78); We Want To Know (79); Niesig (79).
Week of Feb. 29: Judicial conduct. ABA MODEL JUDICIAL CONDUCT CODE R. 2.1
through 2.4; 2.9 through 2.11.
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions
Wednesday: Gillers Chap. 11. The Clients of My Daughter (409); Caperton (410);
Liljeberg (421); Cheney [suppl.]; Republican Party [suppl.]
Week of Mar. 7: Bar admissions and general obligations of lawyers. R. 8.1, 5.5, 4.1, 4.3,
4.4.
Monday: PowerPoint; Problems and solutions. Gillers Chap. 12: Leis (455); Local
Office, National Practice (460); Birbower (460).
Wednesday: Gillers Chap. 9: Bad Builder's (397); Complex Formula (360); Dead
Witness (361); Fire Insurance (367); Hoyt (367); Virzi (370).
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Week of Mar. 14: SPRING BREAK
Week of Mar. 21: Representing companies and organizations. R. 1.13, 1.2(d).
PowerPoint; Problems and solutions. Gillers Chap. 10: Please Find Out (381);
Grand Jury Subpoena (382); Who's Your Client (386); I Never Worked (387);
Tekni-plex (389); Murphy (396).
Week of Mar. 28: Quality control and malpractice actions. R. 1.1 through 1.3.
PowerPoint; Problems and solutions. Gillers Chap. 13A: When Sally Left (478);
Togstad (480); Tante (487); Smith (490); Viner (495); Adkins (502); Peeler (503);
Death and Taxes (508); Petrillo (510).
Week of April 4: Discipline and disciplinary procedure. PowerPoint; Problems and
solutions. Texas Disc. R. 8.03, 8.04; Tex. Disc. Proc. R. 2.10 - 2.17. Gillers Chap.
13B: The Defense Sting (519); A Research Shortcut (520); Jordan Schiff (523);
Strickland (539).
Week of April 11: Terminating the lawyer-client relationship. R. 1.16. Gillers: I Don't
Plea Bargain (62); Jones (62); I'd Rather Die (66); Accept the Offer (67); Olfe (68).
Week of April 18: Current ethical issues in Texas practice (I). Current reported cases.
Week of April 25: Current ethical issues in Texas practice (II). Current reported cases.
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Last class -- May 2: General review, with sample questions to prepare for the final exam
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