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ProEthics Announces two new Musical Ethics seminars:

More Ethics Rock! and Ethics Blues

"Ethics in Tune!"

Award-winning Musical Legal Ethics Seminars

In 2002, ProEthics launched the first musical legal ethics seminar, "The Sound of Ethics," created and performed for the District of Columbia Bar. The three hour CLE seminar was expanded to four hours for the Virginia Bar, and has been performed in various forms for law firms, corporate legal departments, and legal associations. "The Sound of Ethics" was featured on the PBS "Religion and Ethics" program, and was given an award by the American Continuing Legal Education Association for innovation in CLE programming. In 2003, it was joined by another legal ethics CLE musical seminar, "The Ethics Man," a parody of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." Both seminars have received extraordinary evaluations from participants in all venues in which it has bee presented.

There are no CLE seminars like those from in the Ethics in Tune program. Apart from the novelty and entertainment elements of this approach, the musical presentation has teaching advantages as well. Participants have found that the songs help them remember the ethical dilemmas portrayed, and that the format as a whole holds their interest throughout the program on a topic that is renowned for its capacity to bore.

And believe it or not, the lawyers in attendance always sing!

Ethics in Tune programs can be customized to any length, although three or four hours is the recommended duration. There are general practice and corporate practice versions of each musical seminar, and templates to create new musical seminars using other musical genres. The objective of each program is the same: to convey, in the context of relevant rules, codes or guidelines, a framework for ethical analysis and decision-making, and to give participants enhanced sensitivity to basic ethical principles while addressing the most current and challenging professional ethical dilemmas.

Current "Ethics in Tune" programs include:

The Sound of Ethics
The Ethics Man
Ethics Rock!

The Sound of Ethics

"The Sound of Ethics" presents complex legal ethics scenarios in the form of a musical comedy. Using amusing parodies of Rodgers and Hammerstein classics, professional musical comedy performers portray the story of Maria, an idealistic young lawyer who joins a firm beset with ethical dilemmas and led by Von Trapp, a cynical senior partner. Between numbers, participants engage in lively debate regarding the difficult issues presented in song, including client fraud, fee-padding, waiver of conflicts, client-stealing, conflicts in joint representations, negotiations, Sarbanes-Oxley issues, confidentiality, and more. Leading the discussion is "The Sound of Ethics" creator, attorney, playwright and ethics consultant Jack Marshall.

Song Parodies and Issues:

"The Sound of Ethics" (Joint representation, conflicts, and duties to corporate clients)
"Clients Will Say We Screwed Up" (exceptions to confidentiality; withdrawal, zealous representation)
"My Big Bill" (26 legal billing issues, plus client stealing and law firm issues)
"Shall We Squeal?" Parts 1 and 2 (Client misconduct, fraud and perjury, plus duties to the tribunal, and Sarbanes-Oxley)
"Sixteen Acres Going on Seventeen" (Negotiation, dealing with unrepresented persons, lawyer misconduct, conflicts, duties to clients)
"Write Every Client" (restriction of the right to practice; settlement ethics, conflicts and waivers)
"Legal Vice" (Assisting clients in unethical activities) [Audience Sing-along]

Read more about The Sound of Ethics

The Ethics Man

You'll leave this legal ethics seminar humming the Rules of Professional Conduct, with "The Ethics Man!"…a challenging and musical continuing legal education program that parodies Meredith Willson's "The Music Man", and the sequel to ProEthics' award-winning "The Sound of Ethics.".

"Trouble in River City," "76 Trombones," and other familiar show tunes are given new stories to tell, as complex and current legal ethics issues will be sung and dramatized by The Ethical Arts Players, the same talented troupe of professional performers who made last year's "The Sound of Ethics" one of the highest-rated CLE programs ever. Legal ethicist and attorney Jack Marshall will then use the scenes and songs as the starting point for far-ranging and lively discussion and analysis of the most important and perplexing ethics issues facing lawyers.

Song Parodies and Issues

"Rock Island" : Conflicting ethical obligations to clients and the public; organization counsel; Sarbanes-Oxley
"Buried, Indiana": Ethical problem solving; confidentiality; conflicts; Ethics 2000
"Patent Search" ("Lida Rose") Supervisor/subordinate; discovered conflicts; imputed conflicts; waivers
"Seven-point-six" ("76 Trombones") Conflict of Laws; Multidisciplinary practice; misconduct
"What Should I Do?" ('Til There Was You") Inadvertent transmission; negotiation; contact with represented party, attorney misconduct
"The Big Deposition" ("Wells Fargo Wagon") Zealous representation; Candor to the Tribunal; Fairness; Misconduct; Legal Assistants, Witness Prepping
"Ethics Trouble" ("Trouble in River City") Diligence; Conflicts; Misconduct;
Limiting the Representation; Confidentiality; and more

This course can be adjusted to fulfill two, three or four hours of CLE ethics requirements, and is a rare combination of substance, new ideas, challenging concepts, humor, and song.

Ethics Rock!

The latest Ethics in Tune seminar is the most popular yet: Ethics Rock! The tuneful and nostalgic legal ethics seminar presents complex legal ethics scenarios as expertly performed parodies of some of the greatest rock and roll hits of the '60s, accompanied by acoustic guitar and sung by professional classic rock performers. The Beatles, The Who, Simon and Garfunkle, James Taylor and many others find their works transformed into new versions that tell stories of lawyers facing ethical difficulties while somehow retaining the flavor and spark of the original hit songs. Available in two, three, and four hour versions.

Song Parodies and Issues

"Overture: Tommy Medley" : Basic duties in the attorney client relationship.
"Goon Posse"/ "Country is Broken"/ "Defense Department and Justice Attorney" (Cat Stevens hits) : Fitness to practice, duties of communication, moral turpitude, and legal advice as a moral act
"Fagin Snow" ("Bad, Bad, Leroi Brown"): Supervisor/subordinate; deceptive tactics, candor to the tribunal
"A Day in the Court" ("A Day in the Life"): Courtroom tactics; dirty tricks; fraud on the court; false evidence and misrepresentation
"Traveling to New Orleans" ('The City of New Orleans"): Multi-jurisdictional practice and the unauthorized practice of law; conflict of laws
"What 1.6 is For" ("When I'm 64"): Ethical considerations when changing firms; conflicts; confidentiality
"The Dentist" ("The Boxer"): Joint representations; hearing too much; conflicts, confidentiality; the incompetent client
"Scum and Pain" ("Fire and Rain": Former clients; duty to warn; confidentiality; conflicts; competing duties
"The Day My Ethics Died" ("American Pie"): Sarbanes-Oxley; communication; honesty; organization representation; and more