MVV277K Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility

Faculty of Law
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. Przemysław Kaczmarek, Ph.D. (seminar tutor), prof. JUDr. Ing. Michal Radvan, Ph.D. (deputy)
Jakub Łakomy, MA (seminar tutor), prof. JUDr. Ing. Michal Radvan, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
prof. JUDr. Ing. Michal Radvan, Ph.D.
Faculty of Law
Contact Person: Mgr. Věra Redrupová, B.A.
Supplier department: Faculty of Law
Timetable of Seminar Groups
MVV277K/01: Mon 6. 5. 8:00–9:40 038, Tue 7. 5. 10:00–11:40 025, 12:00–13:40 025, Thu 9. 5. 16:00–17:40 025, 18:00–19:40 025, Fri 10. 5. 8:00–9:40 038
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 1/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 37 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Main objectives are as follows:
- to understand and explain basics of philosophy of morality;
- to understand relations between main ethical concepts;
- to understand main currents in contemporary philosophy of morality and theories of justice in political philosophy;
- to analyze the main rules of professional responsibility in legal professions
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, student should be able:
- to use main tools of legal reasoning and theory of argumentation to analyse professional responsibility of lawyers;
- to understand ethical and philosophical background of main theories of morality;
- to understand the status of the contemporary professional ethics;
- to analyze differences between the systems of professional responsibility in USA and continental Europe;
- to use knowledge to be able to decide what is the best ethical profile of the contemporary lawyer and implement it in their own professional behavior in future
Syllabus
  • 1. Morality and ethics. Definitions and relations between concepts. Basic ethical concepts and the problem of justice.
  • 2. Main currents in contemporary philosophy of morality: deontology, consequentialism (utilitarianism), ethics of virtues, ethics of responsibility, ethics of discourse.
  • 3. Infrastructure of moral reasoning: basics of theory of argumentation, critical reason, the role of discourse, the role of tradition.
  • 4. Professional ethics - the concept, ethics of legal professions, the separatist thesis.
  • 5. Obedience and authority and moral responsibility of lawyers.
  • 6. Models of client - lawyer relations in the contemporary philosophy of morality.
Literature
  • See Teacher's Information for full details.
Teaching methods
Lessons with discussion.
Assessment methods
Exam (a test with the open questions form: eg. "characterize in 5 sentences utilitarianism formulated by Jeremy Bentham" ... ...)
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
Teacher's information
Literature

1. Michael J. Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010

2. W. Bradley Wendel, Ethics and Law: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 2014

3. The Concept of Dilemma in Legal and Judicial Ethics, ed. by P. Skuczyński, C.H. Beck, Warsaw 2018

4. S. Milgram, Obedience to Authority; An Experimental View, 1974

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