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Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism
Professionalism Orientation for First-Year
Students
Every Mercer student begins his or her legal
education with orientation. The final afternoon of orientation is
devoted to issues of professionalism. This program, which is administered
through the Professionalism Committee of the State Bar of Georgia
and the Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, brings to
campus each year a distinguished speaker. For example, the speaker
for 2006 was the Honorable Louis Sands, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. The talk is followed by the administration
to the students of the law students' pledge of professionalism,
which reads as follows:
I, ____, as a student entering the Walter
F. George School of Law, understand that I am embarking on a course
of study that will enable me to join the legal profession. I also
understand that as a member of the legal profession, and as a
member of this community of learning, I will be expected to conduct
myself at all times with honor and professionalism. Therefore,
I pledge as follows:
To the faculty and administration, I offer
my attention, my diligence, and my respect. I will strive to excel
in my studies so that my future clients will benefit from the
knowledge and skill that I may acquire here.
To my fellow students, I offer my support,
my respect, and my courtesy. I will strive to make our association
a collegial and fruitful one, in which we may depend upon each
other for the benefit of all.
To the legal profession, I offer my
service. I will strive to become a true professional and to learn
to practice my craft as a calling, in the spirit of public service.
The students then participate in small
group discussions of issues and ethics and professionalism. For
an example of the type of hypothetical problems discussed in these
sessions, click here. These discussions
are led by attorneys and judges who volunteer their time and expertise
in an effort to help new law students with their transition to the
legal profession. Faculty members also join these discussions. A
social reception follows the small group discussions and concludes
the students' orientation to law school.
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