Justice on Trial: Integrating Ethics in Law School Advocacy Courses

Authors

• Veronica J. Finkelstein

Abstract

The rule of law depends not only on legal doctrine and institutional design, but on the daily ethical choices of the lawyers who operate within the adversarial system. Trial lawyers, in particular, wield extraordinary power courtroom outcomes, yet law schools too often train future advocates to perform persuasive techniques without meaningful engagement with the ethical obligations that constrain those techniques and the lawyers who wield them. This article argues that the persistent separation between trial advocacy education and legal ethics instruction leaves law students ill-prepared for the moral complexities of litigation and threatens public confidence in the justice system.

Tracing the historical rise of trial advocacy courses and their performance-centered pedagogical roots, the article demonstrates how advocacy training has become divorced from ethical reflection, reinforcing a win-at-all-costs mentality that undermines the rule of law. It then examines the unique role of trial lawyers as both zealous advocates and officers of the court, highlighting how everyday litigation decisions, from witness examination to evidentiary objections, carry profound ethical consequences. Drawing on examples from modern courtroom practice, the article identifies common ethical dilemmas that arise under the pressures of adversarial advocacy and explains why traditional stand-alone professional responsibility courses inadequately prepare students to confront these dilemmas in real time.

The article ultimately contends that ethics and advocacy are inseparable and must be taught together. It proposes concrete, practical models for integrating ethical reflection directly into trial advocacy instruction, including ethics-infused simulations, reflective exercises, co-teaching models, ethical assessment criteria, and practitioner engagement. By embedding ethics at the core of advocacy education rather than treating it as an ancillary subject, law schools can better prepare students for practice, strengthen professional identity formation, and foster a generation of trial lawyers equipped to protect, not erode, the rule of law.

Recommended Citation

Veronica J. Finkelstein, Justice on Trial: Integrating Ethics in Law School Advocacy Courses, 13 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev. 45 (2026).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/ecgar/vol13/iss1/2