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20 Syllabus 1 (1989)

handle is hein.journals/syllabus20 and id is 1 raw text is: American Bar Assocation Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Volume XX, Number 1 March 1989 Representing Underprivileged Is Rewarding oy JOnot c., rarrerr S ome w hsi study law, as John Mortimer has said of himself, do so 'with no real faith in ever 'urvivng to practice it. But aniong those who feel a surer destiny, few stay the original course they set at the start of law school. This is just as it should be. Law school educates the heart as well as the mind, In my own case, I hart a sague aimbition that when I graduated I would fiind my way into the Justice Department, perhaps, or a corporate law firm specialiing in antitrust law Alas, Richard Nixon became president But neither that nor any particular aspect of coorse work hod as profound an effect on my tuture as the adsice from an old friend. Of all career paths available to a lai student in the late 1960s the C..tuu.ed on page 2 ER S: Pro au4 €on Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam? YES -- Tests Awareness of Ethical Standards ly Joseph R Iusion tihe dual purpose of the *Multistate Professional Rspon ibi ity Exami- nation is to measure the applicant's knowledge of the standards of the legal profession and the judiciary and to assess the applicant's ability to apply thre standards in given fact situations. The purpose is not to measure virtue.' These are the words of the chairperson of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) committee of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, That it is important for applicants for bar admission to demonstrate that they have a knowledge base upon which a responsible practice can be developed is, for all practical purposes, a given. To make certain that this is more than a goal as far as professional responsibility is concerned, some 38 jurisdictions have adopted the MPRE since its inception in 1980 Adoption of the MPRE is not inconsistent with the view that it is also desirable to include in a jurisdicfion's essav examination matters raising not only procedural and subsantive law questions but also involving standards of professional conductc Indeed, the National Conference is considering the inclusion of such issues within the newly developed Multistate Essay Examination (MEE), a competency measurement vehicle administered in six jurisdictions in July, 1988. (Some ten jurisdictions will administer the MEE in July 1989. Fifty jurisdictions use the Multistate Bar Examination (MBE), 46 states, the Distris of Coliimbia, Guam, Contined on page 3 NYU Summer Public Interest Program-an Early Leader 'his wisse of Syllabus carries several articles on public interest law practice. The articles reporting on law schools deal particularly with sumer prograin. Space does not allow a report on all such schools. Now York University's Public Interest Surmier Internship l' Program began in 1976. Students, faculty, and administrators concerned about public interest law opportunities developed a proposal, antd the pilot programs began with 24 second-year students who were provided $1,200 for ten weeks with the employer paying $400. A selection panel was set up to o valuate student applicants on the basis of their past parlicipation in pulic service and their future commitment to public interest law. Students who received grants were responsible for finding their own summer placement, Tho program has exvanded considerably since its inception. In 1982, first-year students ould apply. The number of grants increased to 83 in the summer of 1988. The stipend has increased to $2,750 for ten weeks, and employers will be asked to increase their contribution to $600 the summer of 1989. For the last five years, NYU has devoted 50 percent of one professional's time and up to 10 percent of the placement office's expense budget to the areas ot public interest and public service, Lynn Strudler, assistant dean, reports. The professional's time has been used for individual counseling, job development, programming, and related activities. The office sponsors a Public Interest Legal Career Symposium in which 20 law schools from the tri- state area of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey participate and which presents an opportunity for first- and second-year students to become acquainted with a wide array of career opportunities. Each year the school tries to establish the level of commitment to public interest of the incoming class by Using a scale that extends from one (no comimtment) to nine (will accept no other kind of job), The students are resurveyed each of their three years in law school, Although figures do not indicate any clear correlations between summer and permanent employment in public service areas, they do suggest a correlation between the numbers of public interest and government employers recruiting on campus in the fall and the number of students accepting permanent positions in those areas The program has helped students committed to public service to sustain their commitment throughout three years during which they are surrounded by hordes of on-campus recruiters from the prvate sector, Dean Strudier reports. E1 NO- Separate Exam Separates Subject T le MayadBoard of Law Examiners has considered but declined to include the National Professional Responsibility Examination in its determination of lawyer competence. At least one person has asked why In May 1981 Maryland held a Bar Admission Conference attended by bar leaders, law school deans, members of the Character Committee and Attorney Grievance Commission, legislators law students, members of the Maryland Court of Appeals and Bar Examiners. There developed a clear consensus that ethics should be tested in the bar examination, that consideration should be given to utilizing the MPRE, but that at least the essay portion should include ethical questions. The conferees, in their discussions of legal education, Professinal responsibility and eiics are seen as differet from real law, questioned what was termed the ''poor pedagogy' spawned by the Multistate Bar Examination (lBE) and the proliferation of multiple choice exams in law school.' As a result of that conference, the Board of Law Examiners has inclsded professional responsibility' as a subject tested within its essay examination of new applicants as well as out-of-state lawyers seeking admission. Law schools generally appear riot to integrate the difficult problems of professional responsibility into, their Continued on page 8

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