Dishonest law students

Dahn Batchelor's Opinions

A number of years ago,a law school in Toronto learned that a large number of law students were cheating on their exams. This is a copy of a letter I sent to the editor of a large newspaper in Toronto about my concerns of such behavior.

I am deeply concerned about the discovery that a great many University of Toronto law students had chosen to mislead law firms with respect to their marks at the law school. This places the law firms in a disadvantageous position; that is not knowing whether or not the applicants are as qualified as they claim to be.

A letter written by more than 50 law students to their law professor, although not condoning this kind of conduct, said that increased tuition, an emphasis on corporate jobs and the constant barrage of recruiting, creates an environment where some students might feel pressures to cheat.

All of us feel pressures to cheat. The pressures of everyday living can cause all of us at some time or another to exaggerate to some degree about our qualities in order to get ahead.

But suppose a doctor applies for a position in a hospital in which he really isn’t qualified to handle. And suppose he gets the job based on his lies. And suppose his patient dies because he didn’t have the qualifications to do such a complicated operation. Would we forgive him because after all, the pressures of life caused him to lie about his qualifications?

Suppose a man applies for a job as a life guard and he has the necessary live-saving training, awards and experience but he neglects to mention that he suffers from nerve damage to one of his arms. And suppose while trying to rescue a drowning person, he fails because his bad arm hasn’t enough strength in it to be put to proper use. Should we forgive him because he needed a job?

We put a great deal of faith in lawyers and trust them with our freedom, our peace of mind and our money. That is why we expect them to be men and women of integrity.

A young law student who chooses to cheat and lie his way into his profession is not a person of integrity. Simply put, such a person is a liar and a cheat. I am forced to ask a rhetorical question. “Are you prepared to put your freedom, your peace of mind and your money into the hands of a lawyer who would lie to you and cheat you simply because he has succumbed to the pressures of life?”

I think the law students in their collective letter said it best when they said, and I quote; “Certainly the individual choice of each student to cheat is beyond justification. A person’s morals are truly tested when temptation is high and these students failed the test.” unquote.

There are enough bad apples in the lawyer’s bin already without having to pile in more rotten apples. These students who are found to have failed the integrity test, should be expelled from their law school. Those students who didn’t lie and cheat with reference to their marks, who approached the prospective law firms with their integrity intact, are to be complimented. They are made of the right stuff. They will develop into the kind of lawyers that we will feel comfortable with when everything we have that is dear to us, is in their capable hands.

The Law Society removes rotten apples after they have been in the bin too long. I think the law school should remove the rotten apples before they are placed in the bin. To do otherwise, is to not care about the quality of the bin.