Group Presentation

30% of your grade will be based on your group presentation. You will be part of a group of six or seven students (there may only be 10 groups total) who chose a legal career and create a 15-minute presentation about the ethical issues facing attorneys doing that particular type of work. The career should be specific, not a general topic in law, but rather which side of the practice you are focused on. For example, “housing” is too general. You should pick tenants’ attorneys, or landlords’ attorneys, or developers’ attorneys, or public interest land use attorneys, or government attorneys at a local, state or federal housing authority. Rather than “criminal justice” you should focus on defense or prosecution, or an even more specific area like juvenile defense. Your group will work together to research these issues. You may interview attorneys doing that work, but it is not required. Be certain to read anything those someone has written and listen to any of their talks before reaching out to them for interviews. You should look at legal scholarship and other published writing to learn about the specific ethical issues in the type of law practice you are examining. You may use any technological resources you desire to create a clear, understandable, information-packed, interesting presentation to help your fellow students learn the material you are sharing. You are expected to work on this project outside of class, but some class time will be provided to allow you to meet with your group, in recognition of your varied schedules.

Elements of an excellent group project include:

• You divided the research and writing work evenly, supported each other in that work by reviewing and discussing each other’s work so that you all feel comfortable standing behind all of the elements.
• You approached your research with an eye to becoming experts in the ethical issues facing this area of law practice, undertook research that provided this expertise, and demonstrated this expertise in your presentation.
• Your presentation described key ethical controversies relevant to your area of practice that might interest your classmates.
• You exercised and enhanced your cooperation and collaboration skills by working in a group that effectively communicated, divided labor, and supported one another’s work. No one dominated the group and no one was a “free rider” in the project.

On the day of your class presentation, your group must provide to me a one-page account listing what each individual contributed to the project. It should include sufficient detail about what elements you each researched, wrote, designed, presented, and otherwise engaged so that I can assess each individual’s contribution. Everyone in your group should have read and agreed to what is inside the document about your individual contributions to the project, ensuring that is an accurate account of your contributions.