First Readings for Summer 2025
This may not be an exclusive listing of all faculty members’ first assignment and class meeting notices. If you do not see a class that you are in listed below, it may be necessary to check with the faculty member.
Dates for Summer 2025
- The form for submitting assignments will be activated on Monday, April 21, 2025.
- Assignments will begin to be posted Monday, Monday, April 21, 2025.
- The form for submitting assignments will be deactivated on Monday, June 23, 2025.
- Assignments will be removed on Monday, June 23, 2025.
Problems in Professional Responsibilithy (LAWS 554 §001)
Instructor Name(s)
Burk
Textbook Information
Problems in Professional Responsibility
(LAWS554-001-SUMMER-2025)
Course Texts
Prof. Burk, bb139@mailbox.sc.edu
MTW 4:00 – 6:10 pm
Classroom: Cyberspace via Zoom (https://sc-edu.zoom.us/j/9654238249)
The books for the course are:
(1) Burk, Finkelstein & Rapoport, Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned (2d ed. 2025) (the “Textbook,” which is the principal text for the course; a must-have)
CAUTION: DO NOT BUY THE FIRST EDITION of the Textbook (published 2021, which is still available on several websites at a steeply discounted price reflecting its dramatically reduced utility for a PR class starting now). The Second Edition is new this year and is significantly different from the First.
The Textbook is available new in two formats:
Digital Only: ISBN 9798892074391
Digital + Hardcopy (softcover): ISBN 9798892074384
So if you buy the textbook new, you automatically get the Digital edition. Your decision is whether to add a hardcopy of the book for about $50 more.
The Digital edition, an Aspen eBook, has a number of neat features, including highlighting and outlining tools, and one-click onscreen access to every Rule and statute cited in the book, as well as to the book’s Glossary of Defined Terms. You can save about $50 if you buy Digital only.
Both the Digital Only and the Digital + Hardcopy bundles, bought new, come with free online access to the CasebookConnect Study Center, which includes a number of popular study guides and other resources on Professional Responsibility (practice essay and MPRE-style multiple-choice questions, short video refreshers on specific topics, etc. at casebookconnect.com).
Where you can get the book:
You may buy the book anywhere you can find it. One place where you may buy it (though you may buy it anywhere you like) is on the publisher’s website:
Ethical Lawyering: A Guide for the Well-Intentioned, Second Edition
Because the Second Edition is new, it may be difficult to find used copies (though the Second Edition was used at a number of law schools this past Spring Term, so you might be able to find one). N.B. If you buy a used copy, you will NOT get access to the Digital edition or CasebookConnect Study Center.
(2) Any electronic or hardcopy version of:
(a) The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (with drafters’ Comments) (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents/)
(b) Selected Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp) relevant to the course
(c) Excerpts from Titles 18 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18) and 28 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28) of the U.S. Code relevant to the course.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It will be supremely important to read the assigned Model Rules and statutes in their pristine linguistic glory to prepare for class, but you need not buy a hardcopy of any of them: Although we will focus intensively on the text of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, we will be referring to only a few procedural rules and statutes. All rules and statutes to which we will refer in class are available free on the Internet. I have put one Internet source for each next to each set of Rules above, but you may use any complete, accurate, and up-to-date digital or print source you like. The digital edition of the textbook contains hyperlinks that will pull up the Rule or statute under discussion on your screen next to the text discussing it, which many students have found extremely convenient as they’re reading the Textbook to prepare for class.
In short, you probably don’t need a separate statutory supplement (beyond the Internet sources cited above) for this course, though you are of course free to get one (digital or hardcopy) if you prefer. For those who want or need a statutory supplement, I recommend Martyn, Fox & Wendel, The Law Governing Lawyers: Model Rules, Restatement, and Other Sources of Law 2024-2025 (Aspen, 2024-25) (ISBN 9788892077637). This supplement is available only in digital form. It’s about $60 new, and beware buying a used version from any source that is more than one year old because the Model Rules were last amended in August 2023. This supplement contains not only the Model Rules, but also the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers, the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, and some relevant excerpts from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure and Titles 18 and 28 of the United States Code. It’s fairly complete and very useful (though there are many other statutory supplements suitable for this course if you prefer another, and you’ll have to use another if you want one in hardcopy). You can order it here: https://aspenpublishing.com/products/martyn-lawgoverning2024-2025?srsltid=AfmBOoqgPobgGgnKaBwzxTLrlDJXVABMRIEr3MPCWEn7u_C40yviPHoK
For the bare-bones minimum, the American Bar Association publishes a pamphlet containing just the Model Rules and its Drafters’ Comments, for which the ABA charges about $35 new. It’s available (among other places) on Amazon and directly from the ABA. (Again, if you get a used one, make sure it is dated 2024 or later, as the ABA amended the Model Rules significantly in 2023. You can order the ABA pamphlet here (or anywhere else you wish):
9781641058599 $32.45 ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
(3) Additional Materials to be posted on Blackboard.
Feel free to email me with any questions, bb139@mailbox.sc.edu
–Prof. Burk
General Assignment Information
Greetings! If you’re registered for Problems in Professional Responsibility in the imminently-starting Summer Term, you will have received some Blackboard announcements in your sc.edu email setting out the assignments for the first week of the course and some basic course information, and a separate one about the Textbook we’ll be using.
If you’re registered for the course but have not received the Announcements, or if you have not registered and are considering taking the course, the course text information follows, and the first-week Assignments and course information are attached. Feel free to email me at bb139@mailbox.sc.edu with any questions about the course.
This is a synchronous online course (that is, everyone attends and participates remotely in real time). See you on Zoom on Monday, June 2 at 4:00 pm. (https://sc-edu.zoom.us/j/9654238249). Those still deciding are welcome to virtually drop in and check things out.
–Prof. Burk