OVERVIEW

The aim of the teaching is to provide students with the notions and information concerning the discipline of legal ethics and forensic deontology. In particular, the course will focus on the lawyer's behaviour before and during the trial, in a perspective of effective lawyering.

At the end of the course, the student shall therefore be able to identify - in the light of ethical and deontological canons - the virtuous behaviours of the lawyer and to censure, conversely, ethically incorrect practices and abuse of the trial instrument.

Particular attention will also be paid to the relationship between the principles of legal ethics and the use of artificial intelligence in trials, providing students with the methods and principles for the correct use of AI also in the light of the relevant European legislation.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to carry out an analysis of the problem of the realization (or not) of good defence practices in civil disputes as an essential element of a non-neutral approach to the study of civil procedure. A crucial datum to this end seems to consist in the assumption -on the base of the lesson of Vittorio Denti, one of the most acute processualcivilisti of the last century- of the "perspective of the lawyer" as a basic reference for the assessment of the proper functioning of the procedural practice. Into such a perspective, moreover, not any technical defence is inevitably a good defence in court while, conversely, identifying the phenomena in which might take place practices not consistent with this parameter would be a fundamental commitment.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to offer students an overview of the main disciplines of forensic ethics in the various legal systems, in the perspective therefore also of Anglo-Saxon legal ethics and lawyering.

In particular, an attempt will be made to highlight the particular correlation between the reform of the disciplines of legal ethics and the reform of the civil process.

Special attention will be paid to the role of the lawyer before and during the trial. The moment of consulting with the client, the choice regarding the jurisdictionalisation of the conflict, and the modalities of complying with the truthfulness and accuracy of the defence documents will be some of the salient points on which attention will be focused.

At the end of the course of study, the student shall be able to

- identify the main ethical principles governing a lawyer's conduct within the civil process

- identify ethically unsound practices and behaviour and the relevant sanctions

- distinguish the ethically oriented ways of exercising the legal profession from those that are in breach of ethical principles

- apply such principles in the drafting of procedural documents and in the conduct of procedural dynamics

- identify and apply the correct methods of exercising the legal profession

PREREQUISITES

It is advisable to attend the course after having taken at least the Civil Procedure Law Mod. I examination.

TEACHING METHODS

The course will consist of 36 hours of frontal teaching, in which the topics covered in the syllabus will be analysed. The lectures will be conducted in an interactive manner, encouraging extensive discussion and debate, also based on specific case studies.

As part of the course, students will be assigned the task of drafting written texts (papers) illustrating possible solutions in relation to specific cases involving ethical issues and forensic ethics.

These written papers will be taken into account when awarding the grade for the final examination.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

In this perspective we intend to address a number of issues, including in particular:

- the centrality of the lawyer's role in the civil justice system and its perception in society;

- the practice of defence and its ethical-professional implications (in the interrelation with the client, with colleagues, with the judge);

- the privileged relationship with the judge in the perspective of the ‘proper’ and ‘non-abusive’ use of the trial instrument;

- the ethical-professional values as prerequisites of defence in court;

- the standard of reliability;

- (follows) the standards of the technical-professional competence of loyalty (as good behaviour towards colleagues) and fairness (as candour towards the judge);

- the ethical-professional disciplines and ‘new advocacy’.

- the use of Artificial Intelligence in the performance of the legal profession and, in particular, in the drafting of procedural documents

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hazard, Dondi, Ethics of the Legal Profession - A Comparative Perspective, 2005, .

Any updated edition of the Italian ethical-professional discipline (Law No. 247/2012 and Code of Ethics of the Legal Profession).

In the course of the lectures, other sources will be periodically indicated of which reproducible copies will be provided, such as:

Ansanelli, Riforme dell'etica dell'avvocatura e riforme del processo civile, Il giusto processo civile, 2021, p. 399 ff.

Dondi, Comoglio, Ansanelli, Lawyer liability in the use of GPT chat - Aspects of defence ethics in the US context, in Foro, it, IV, 2024

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The lectures will take place during the first semester. Schedules will be published on the Law Department website as soon as they are available.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examination is conducted orally. However, during the course of the course, attending students may be assigned to write written reports on specific topics addressed in the course of the course.

These papers will be taken into account when awarding the final grade.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination may be preceded by the presentation of papers on specific topics