Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Also relates the Oregon ethics rules to the ABA Model Guidelines For the Utilization of Legal Assistant Services, the NALA Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and the NFPA Affirmation of Responsibility. A core course, required for a Legal Assistant Certificate or an Associate of Applied Science degree.
 

Upon successful completion student will be able to:
Apply and utilize fundamental concepts of professional legal ethics
Apply and utilize analytic skills applying professional legal ethics to fact situations
Avoid malpractice and violations of professional ethical rules
Use resources available to paralegals for dealing with ethical issues

For each class session, three students will be responsible for fieldingquestions related to the readings and problems assigned for the week.
 

Grades will be based upon student performance on:  four in-class assignments (40%);  four out-of-class assignments (40%); and the final exam which has two parts, part I has two to four required problems (20%) and part II has two optional problems which can be substituted for the scores on any in- or out-of-class assignment. 
Late assignments receive an "F", and students who do not do part I of the final receive an "F" as the course grade.
 

Recognize the potential for and institute procedures to avoid ethical problems such as conflicts of interest, commingling funds, communicating with a represented party and unlawful practice of law.
Apply given rules to novel fact situations involving such ethical issues as lawyer advertising, zealously representing a client's interests within the bounds of the law, preserving confidentiality, and malpractice.