An Integrated Approach to Teaching Ethics and Professionalism

The third orientation lecture component integrates concepts of ethical decision-making developed by the Joseph and Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics ("Institute").9 This is a two-part session that takes place during the first weeks of first year students' second semester. In the initial session, Michael Josephson, the founder of the Institute and its most wellknown initiative, the Character Counts!(TM) program, delivers a lecture where he introduces students to a practice of ethical decision-making guided by six Pillars of Character(TM) ("Pillars"),10 which include Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. While many students are familiar with the Pillars as an elementary school initiative, Josephson explains that the Pillars were developed after an examination of common perceptions of good character that transcend religion and culture.11 To the extent that students associate the Pillars with elementary school curricula, and to the extent that the students believe them- selves competent as ethical decision mak- ers, they tend to be skeptical of the impor- tance of the material to their legal educa- tion. To that end, Josephson is able to iden- tify compelling projects of the Institute that rely upon the Pillars, including Institute ini- tiatives in various state legislatures, with the Department of Defense, and with vari- ous law enforcement organizations. These initiatives give credibility to the material in the context of legal education and therefore enable students to understand the relationship between the Pillars and decision-making in the legal context. The grand finale of the program is the First-Year Trial Practicum (FYTP), an intensive educational experience in which students observe an actual jury trial, which takes place on campus.12 The FYTP requires extensive collaboration between the law school, the judiciary, members of the Iowa bar and, when a criminal trial is conducted, court room security personnel and deputies. Because the FYTP is another intensively interactive and experiential curricular component, its impact suffuses the entire first year of law study.13 Students observe the trial from jury selection through verdict. They also attend small-group discussions led by faculty, judges, and local attorneys who volunteer their time to marshal students through the process. At the trial's conclusion, students have the opportunity to debrief trial counsel, members of the jury, and the judge. As students res