PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT CODE

Preamble

The Emory School of Law Professional Conduct Code has two important elements at its core. First, it is not confined to misbehavior or dishonesty, but instead begins by emphasizing the positive: specifically, the basic values shared by the entire law school community. This feature is reflected in the Code’s title—it is a “conduct” rather than “misconduct” Code. Second, because of its ambitious scope, this Code requires Emory students to think beyond the boundaries of the law school, to understand themselves as part of a larger professional context. This, too, is acknowledged in the title: the Code is addressed to “professionals” rather than “students.”

The Conduct Code reflects the law school’s strong commitment to a set of sustaining, shared values that bind all its elements—students, faculty, and staff—into a true community rather than merely an accidental collection of individuals. These values are also not accidental—they are drawn from the best traditions of the practice of law. 

Our values cause us to welcome diversity of all kinds among us. They permit us, like the membership of the legal profession generally, to remain connected despite inevitable disagreement among ourselves on controversial social and legal policies. These values also allow us to identify forms of behavior and interaction we will not tolerate because they are inconsistent with the mission we have jointly set for the institution and ourselves. These values will assist our community in working to secure a more fair and just society by advancing the rule of law. 

The Values Underlying Emory’s Legal Education

The following four values characterize and animate Emory Law: 

Excellence. In the context of a professional education, information alone is never the ultimate goal. What we seek is the wisdom and judgment to use information to its fullest, most appropriate potential. This means that the key, unavoidable test to be applied to any decision made by any member of our community is whether it moves that person—and us as a whole—in the direction of distinction rather than the merely adequate. This value is therefore an attitude, not a result. Excellence means that Emory Law faculty’s standards for itself and its students must be high. 

Integrity. For everyone in our professional context—practicing lawyers, professors, staff, and students—an ethic of integrity is essential as well. This value means much more, however, than simply honesty. It is the consistent personal application of an inner ethic of excellence. Law students must recognize that they are no longer mere consumers of education. As “professionals” rather than just “students,” Emory Law students are expected to be full-fledged participants in their professional development. When they become practicing lawyers, integrity means remaining faithful to the bedrock elements of the rule of law on which the legitimacy of their work depends. 

Respect. In the context of a professional education, the ethic of respect also has a more focused meaning than its conventional moral form. Although all members of the law school community should treat each other with personal respect, professional respect is dependent on a person’s commitment to the values of excellence and integrity. Law students at Emory are entitled, then, to demand the professional and educational best from the faculty and their fellow students, just as faculty are entitled to demand the same from fellow faculty and students. When these demands are met, all members of the law school community can enjoy the respect that becomes a natural and integral part of the environment. 

Service. The legal system exists not for its own sake, but to regulate and facilitate social interaction. Lawyers operate within a service industry vital to the country’s entire population, providing expert assistance in sometimes difficult and controversial circumstances. Lawyers consequently have a special responsibility to see that legal assistance is as widely available in society as it can be. We encourage the Emory Law community to participate in activities that stretch the impact of our educational efforts well beyond Gambrell Hall, and in particular to segments of our society that have historically been underserved by the legal profession. 

Values and Misconduct

These values in turn provide the necessary perspective for the remainder of this Code, which identifies conduct the Emory Law community considers unacceptable and the procedures for responding to it.

Unacceptable conduct by students is subject to prosecution before the Professional Conduct Court (“Conduct Court”) as described in this Code.

Jurisdiction

All students registered at Emory School of Law are subject to this Code. Students include full-time and part-time students, students in degree courses in any division of the University, and special students such as visiting and transient students.

Notice

All students shall receive a copy of the Code upon matriculation.

Pledge

As a condition of registration, each student must file with the Office of the Law School Registrar a copy of the following pledge signed by the student: 

I,                                        , as a student entering Emory University School of Law, understand that I am joining an academic community and embarking on a professional career. The law school community and the legal profession share important values that are expressed in the Emory University School of Law Professional Conduct Code. I have read the Code, I accept its terms and procedures as a condition of registration, and I will conduct my academic, professional, and personal life to honor those shared values.

If a student is mistakenly permitted to register without having a written pledge on file, this fact will not permit that student to contend that the student is not subject to this Code.