First Week Assignments

Spring 2026

First Week assignments

Advanced Legal Ethics (LAW 236) | Professor Michael S. McGinniss 

Required Textbook ("Text"): 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 on the ABA website or from a paper copy of the MR you have in your possession from Professional Responsibility or otherwise.

On Monday, January 5, via Campus Connection, Professor McGinniss will send an email to the students registered for the course with the password for accessing (on TWEN) the Syllubus, 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 p.m. CST on January 5, 2026, please send an email to michael.mcginniss@UND.edu (note spelling "ss") to request the password. 

Class 1 - Monday, January 12  

• 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; Q 4-5, 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 14

• The Moral Person                                                           
  • Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
  • Plato, The Apology of Socrates
  • Text: pp. 32-36; Q 1-3 p. 36; pp. 14-32; Q 1-3, pp. 31-32
  • MR: 2.1

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

Required Textbook: Eighth Edition (2024) of NATHAN M. CRYSTAL & GRACE M. GIESEL, PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE AND THE PROFESSION (“Text”).

Required Supplement: 2025 and 2026 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.

Class 1 - Tuesday, January 13     

• Foundations of Professional Responsibility:          
       Lawyers as Responsible Fiduciaries,  
       Officers of the Court, and Persons  
  • Text: 1-20
  • MR: Preamble; Scope; 8.4; 4.3

Class 2 - Thursday, January 15                    

• 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)
  • Blackboard: Tenn. Bd. on Prof. Resp. Op. 96-F-140
  • Problem: 1-1 (p. 26)