JURIST - Paper Chase: Law schools brief ~ O'Connor decries decline in ethics in law school lecture

Speaking this week at the University of Wyoming College of Law, US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor bemoaned the current ethical state of the legal profession. In her lecture, entitled "Professionalism & Ethics," she identified declines in professionalism and ethical standards as responsible in part for widespread and widely documented job dissatisfaction among attorneys. She urged practicing and prospective attorneys in her overflow audience to practice civility in an environment better characterized by brutality, and to remember the "moral and social aspects of an attorney's power and position." The Casper Star-Tribune has the full story here.

Meanwhile, Harvard Law School has launched a new program to research changes in the legal profession, notably its transformation to one dominated by global enterprises. Under the direction of Professor David Wilkins, though, the first project of the new Program on Lawyers and the Professional Services Industry will examine how corporations select and purchase legal services in an increasingly competitive market. HLS has the full story here.

Elewhere, Pace Law School's competitive negotiating team has earned itself a trip to the City of Lights. By besting a field of 180 law schools in the American Bar Association's Negotiation Competiton in February, the team earned the honor of representing the US in an international competition in Paris in July. See Pace's press release for more.

Finally, Janet Harvey-Clark, Marketing Director at the Michigan State University-DCL College of Law, writes to clarify JURIST's Wednesday report on a proposal to more fully integrate the school with Michigan State. "MSU isn't stripping us of our affiliation," she says. "The affiliation agreement remains fully intact. We are just strengthening the affiliation to include academic governence [sic] issues, more integrated academic programming and the name change." JURIST reiterates its original statement that the proposal would strip the school only of its "nominal affiliation with DCL," and thanks Ms. Harvey-Clark for her clarification.

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