First Week Assignments

Spring 2025

First Week assignments

Advanced Legal Ethics (#236) – Professor Michael S. McGinniss 

The required textbook (“Text”) is DANIEL R. COQUILLETTE, R. MICHAEL CASSIDY, & JUDITH A. MCMORROW, LAWYERS AND FUNDAMENTAL MORAL RESPONSIBILITY (LexisNexis 2d ed. 2010). For the assignments from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (“MR”), you may access them online at http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents.html) 
or from a paper copy of the MR you have in your possession from Professional Responsibility or otherwise.
On Tuesday, January 7, via Campus Connection I plan to email to students registered for the course the password for accessing (on TWEN) the Syllabus, specified reading assignments for the semester (such as the Sandberg and Auden poems below), and other materials of interest. If you register for the course after 12:00 noon on January 7, please email me at michael.mcginniss@und.edu (note spelling “ss”) to request the password.
Class 1: Monday, January 13      
Lawyers and Fundamental Moral Responsibility    
Professional/Personal Responsibility   
Karl N. Llewellyn, The Bramble Bush    
Carl Sandberg, The Lawyers Know Too Much 
W.H. Auden, Law Like Love     
Text: Preface (v-vi); pp. 1-14; Q4-5, p. 14; Sandberg and Auden poems (on TWEN)
MR: Preamble [1]-[13], Scope [14]-[16], 1.2(b), 1.16(b)(4), 2.1                      
Class 2: Wednesday, January 15   
The Moral Person       
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince  
Plato, The Apology of Socrates   
Text:  pp. 32-36; Q1-3 p. 36; pp. 14-32; Q1-3, pp. 31-32
MR:  2.1 

Professional Responsibility (LAW 232) – Professor Michael S. McGinniss 

The required textbook is the Eighth Edition (2024) of NATHAN M. CRYSTAL & GRACE M. GIESEL, PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE AND THE PROFESSION (“Text”). The required Supplement is the 2023 and 2024 Edition of LISA G. LERMAN, PHILIP G. SCHRAG, & ANJUM GUPTA, ETHICAL PROBLEMS IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW: MODEL RULES, STATE VARIATIONS, AND PRACTICE QUESTIONS, which contains the complete ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (with Comments) (“MR”), as well as an excellent selection of multiple-choice questions that will be assigned for class, along with very helpful explanatory answers. 
You are welcome to use either a print copy or an electronic version of the Textbook and/or Supplement, as you may prefer. The final examination in this course will be closed book.
On Tuesday, January 7 via Campus Connection, I plan to email to students registered for the course the password for accessing (on TWEN) the Syllabus, certain materials that will be included along with the Text and Supplement in assigned readings during the semester, and other materials of interest. If you register for the course after 12:00 noon on January 7, please email me at michael.mcginniss@und.edu (note spelling “ss”) to request the password.
Class 1: Tuesday, January 14     
Foundations of Professional Responsibility:          
     Lawyers as Responsible Fiduciaries,  
     Officers of the Court, and Persons   
Text: 1-20
MR: Preamble; Scope; 8.4(a),(c); 4.3
Class 2: Thursday, January 16                         
Going Beyond the Rules:               
    Conceptions of the Lawyer’s Role and  
    Developing Your Philosophy of Lawyering  
Text: 21-28, 30-38, 55-59 
MR: 1.2(b), 2.1, 1.16(b)(4), 6.2(c)
TWEN: Tenn. Bd. on Prof. Resp. Op. 96-F-140
Problem: 1-1 (p. 26)