From lying on admission applications to borrowing a classmate's Con Law paper, law students have plenty of opportunities to violate ethical standards. According to Adjunct Professor Carol Langford '86, law schools have an obligation to not only hold students accountable, but to use the curriculum and admissions process to be a part of the development of students' moral character.

Langford addressed those topics in a speech last week at Hofstra University School of Law, where she was chosen to deliver the 2007-2008 Howard Lichtenstein Distinguished Professorship of Legal Ethics lecture.

"This is a tremendous honor, especially when I think about the others who have given this lecture," Langford said. "I welcome the opportunity to describe the very good work done at USF in weaving a strong sense of ethics throughout our entire curriculum. The deans and the faculty all talk about our moral responsibility as attorneys not just as a matter of knowing the rules, but as a matter of knowing ourselves and being able to apply the rules in our everyday lives."

Langford is co-author of Legal Ethics and The Practice of Law and The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer, Truth, Justice, Power and Greed and regularly serves as an expert witness in ethics cases. In addition to her teaching at USF and Hastings College of the Law, she was ethics consultant to the Judicial Council of California, and is a member of the Ethics Officer's Association and the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Committee of the State Bar of California. 

The Lichtenstein lecture, which began in 1990, has been delivered in years past by such renowned legal ethicists as Judge John T. Noonan of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit and Stephen Gillers of the New York University School of Law.

"Law schools need to practice 'tough love' in making sure that applicants have been honest when they affirm that they have no criminal record," Langford said during her lecture. "With so much information available through the Internet, it's simple to confirm that sort of thing. It is better for the law school to do it from the start, instead of admitting a student who will be found out when he or she applies for admission to the Bar."

In addition to the Lichtenstein lecture, which was open to the entire Hofstra law school community, Langford led a faculty workshop on how law schools can better define moral character for their students. "Perhaps because USF is a Jesuit institution, the importance of having a moral compass is part of our tradition," she said. "And our professors take that to heart in being role models."

Langford last spoke at Hofstra on Sept. 11, 2001. "As I gave my talk, I noticed the dean and students gathering at the door. I was so worried about making a good impression that I thought they were just enjoying what I had to say about creating a legal ethics committee," she recalled. "They let me finish and then raced to the podium to tell the audience that America had been attacked.  The next day, I was on a Greyhound bus headed back to California with only the clothes on my back. Yet, they are welcoming me back for this award."