Monday Haiku - Lawyers as Leaders

Lawyers as leaders.
Reputation is sacred.
So, guard it closely.

In my new role as Interim Director of UT Law's Institute for Professional Leadership (IPL, for short), I have made a commitment to sit in on the classes in the Institute's curriculum.  One of them, Lawyers as Leaders, is the flagship course--the course that catalyzed the establishment of the IPL.  This semester, it is being hosted on Zoom.

In that course this afternoon, the students wrestled with attorney misconduct--and how to punish it.  During the first hour of the two-hour session, they spent time in breakout rooms discussing three cases that involved different lapses of professional responsibility rules (and, in some cases, criminal law rules).  They were asked to report out/comment on several things about those cases, including the propriety and relative severity of the penalties imposed on the respective transgressor attorneys.  During the second hour of class, the students had the opportunity to listen to one of the three offenders tell his story and share what he learned about leadership through his misconduct.  They also were invited to ask him questions.

The story that the students heard was the one involved in this case.  But they heard about the facts in a way that the Tennessee Supreme Court could not possibly convey them.  And they heard about the personal family tragedy that intersected with the case. 

The class was a very moving experience for me--even though I have heard the story told before.  I can only hope that the learning done by the students was as powerful as the teaching.  The haiku that introduces this post only covers the top line; there is so much more richness there that can only be appreciated by hearing the story in person.  I found myself wishing that I had been afforded the opportunity to learn about professional responsibility and leadership in a similarly compelling way during my law school career.  I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this program.