Learning to Act Like a Law Student: A Response to the Model Code of Professional Responsibility for Law Students

This paper is a response to recent academic trends proposing Codes of Conduct for law students. I argue against the notion that such Code(s) treat law students 'as if' they were lawyers. In particular, any proposed Code of Conduct should never have extra-territorial effect and govern actions in a law student's private life. Nor should there be a duty to report alleged instances of misconduct for fear of creating a climate of distrust and secrecy. These problems, as a whole, would defeat the development of professionalism or ethical behaviour among law students.