PREP Students Conduct Ethics & Technology Training

Students from Miami Law's Professional Responsibility and Ethics Program (PREP) – Daniel Casamayor, Matthew Friendly, and Candice Lazar – recently presented an interactive ethics and technology program at the Dade County Bar Association's Professionalism CLE. Under the supervision of Jan Jacobowitz, director of PREP, the students created a lively hypothetical format, which focused on ethical issues pertaining to Facebook, cutting-edge advertising formats, and proposed changes to Florida's advertising rules.

By UM News 10-07-2011

The PREP students engaged the attorneys in an in-depth conversation about using the Internet and social media, both as an advertising strategy and as litigation tools. "I thought the event was a huge success," said PREP intern Candice Lazar. "The crowd was really engaged and very responsive to our questions."

Dade County Bar Professionalism Committee Co-chair Vivian Reyes agreed and e-mailed her thanks in which she exclaimed, "You and your students were the superstars! I always love having your presentations."

"The PREP program is designed for students and practitioners to exchange information about current legal ethics opinions. Presenting our hypotheticals in the community to practicing attorneys allows students to analyze issues in legal ethics using a 'hands on' approach, which is a much different approach than other law school courses," explained PREP Fellow, Daniel Casamayor.

Intern Matthew Friendly reflected, "I am glad to have been a part of a meaningful discussion to help inform the Dade County Bar Association of the potential impacts of social media and the proposed attorney advertising rules."

The Professional Responsibility and Ethics Program was established in 1996 as an in-house program within the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami School of Law. The program has dedicated countless student hours to public service and has educated thousands of members of the Florida Bench and Bar. As the students teach, they learn and quite often make a difference, prompting organizations to pause and reconsider their approaches to some of the toughest ethical dilemmas.