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2012 Neb. L. Rev. Bulletin 1 (2012)

handle is hein.journals/nelrvbu2012 and id is 1 raw text is: 





                                        Response

                                  IT'S ALL ACADEMIC:
 A Response to Enforcement of Law Schools' Non-Academic Honor Codes: A Necessary Step
                    Towards Professionalism? by Nicola A. Boothe-Perry


                                     Jonah J. Horwitzi

                  Copyright © 2012. Jonah J. Horwitz. All rights reserved.




       Most can readily agree with Professor Boothe-Perry that lawyers routinely act badly, and

that they do so with a regularity that is, alarmingly, on the rise. The question of what to do about

it is a more vexing one. Professor Boothe-Perry suggests that the problem can be nipped in the

bud, as it were, through the imposition of non-academic honor codes at law schools.1 In this

way, she argues, attorneys-in-training will learn how to behave themselves before they join the

bar and will behave themselves ever after.iii

       It is a hopeful vision, and one with the virtue of simplicity: just teach law students about

proper conduct while they are in school, and you solve the scourge of unprofessional behavior.iv

Unfortunately, however, the real world is rarely so simple. The fatal flaw of Professor Boothe-

Perry's reasoning is neatly captured by her lament that law students often carry into society [the]

attributes of 'bad lawyering.' Young lawyers do not acquire such attributes in law school, and

they consequently cannot carry them into practice. They acquire them during the course of

practice itself. They learn unprofessionalism from the profession.