Reducing Ethical Misconduct of Attorneys with Mandatory Ethics Training: A Dynamic Panel Approach

Abstract

Abstract State bar associations require bar applicants to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination over a range of scores and earn a variable number continuing legal education credits in ethics annually. Panel data from 2007–2014 across the fifty states and the District of Columbia are used to assess whether these requirements reduce charges of ethical misconduct against attorneys. Deviations GMM estimation provides evidence that increases in MCLE annual credit-hours in ethics reduce charges. Specifically, a one-hour increase in MCLE reduces the number of charges of ethical misconduct by 10.506 %. The result is robust to different types of models and estimators, but requires making several strong assumptions which are discussed in detail.