Academic Integrity in Legal Education

Abstract

Academic integrity is an asset in legal education because it enables law students to practice ethical decision-making as the foundation of a positive professional identity necessary for life as a lawyer. The consequences for a law student found to have breached the rules of academic integrity may be serious because it is a breach of trust, which is a hallmark of the legal profession. Many jurisdictions require applicants for legal practice to disclose any finding of academic misconduct against them during their education and training.

Law schools can do more than teach legal ethics in meeting the high professional standard that contemporary societies need in law graduates. The regime of academic integrity may be the strongest asset law schools have to assist in that task. Like professional legal ethics, academic integrity involves a system of ethical practice, bordered by rules with real implications for breach. In creating ethical professionals, law schools can inspire students to engage with academic integrity constructively and use it to prove their competence as well as developing a positive professional identity with integrity at its core.