Seminar in Ethical Values (YR)

This is the first semester of a yearlong seminar designed to enhance students' understanding of ethical issues and address the broader ethical and moral responsibilities of the lawyer as citizen and leader. The seminars are graded on a pass/fail basis; students earn one credit in the spring semester upon successful completion of the seminar. This seminar will rely on a series of films to examine the role of ethics in circumstances beyond the reach of traditional legal and political controls and in circumstances of conflicting moral imperatives, such as in war or among individuals whose association is largely extra-legal (e.g., the role of "honor among thieves"). We will discuss what role law and abstract concepts of ethics and morality can or should play in such cases. Some potential sources include the films The Godfather, Shakespeare's Henry V, and Memoirs of a Geisha.