Washington, D.C., Summer Program

The Academics of the 2008 Summer Program

In 2008 the program will offer two courses, a two-unit exam class on "The Ethics of Washington Lawyering" and a three-unit Externship seminar. Each student will also participate at least 20 hours per week in an Externship, with a federal agency, a non-profit group, or some other organization that pledges to provide a substantive experience for the student.

The program is designed to meet all the accreditation requirements of the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. The Ethics of Washington Lawyering course will satisfy the Moritz College of Law's requirement for professional responsibility training. The Externship Seminar satisfies the Moritz seminar requirement.

The Ethics of Washington Lawyering - 2 credits
This course was offered the last four summers and has been rated highly by students. It will focus on the special ethical issues that confront lawyers in Washington, D.C. The course will cover the black-letter law of the usual professional responsibility course, such as confidentiality and conflicts of interest, and students are thus prepared for the MPRE examination. The emphasis, however, will be on topics that arise often in Washington, such as "confidentiality and the role of leaks", "conflicts of interest in political coalitions", and "who is the client for a lawyer in a government agency?"

A special feature of the course is the inclusion of guest speakers who are expert in the ways of Washington. Last summers, guest speakers included: Lanny Davis, former counsel to President Clinton, speaking on"the role of the press in Washington lawyering"; Bruce Mehlman, a former senior Bush Administration official, who discussed "the ethics of lobbying"; and Jodie Bernstein, who among her other public service was the first woman to serve as General Counsel to a federal agency. The class also featured an expert on substance abuse, mental illness, and a lawyer's ethical duties. A similar roster of guest speakers will be included in the course in 2008.

There will be a graded examination in the last week of the program.

The Externship Class
This course will accompany the substantial work that students in the program will do at their externship. Each student will present a draft 12-15 page paper to the rest of the class on a topic growing out of your externship.

After the presentation, students will submit the final draft of their paper, and receive three units of credit. The Externship Class is open to all students who are doing their externship without significant pay - students being paid cannot receive credit for this class.