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Prosecutors Find Valuable
Resources in Ethics Center |
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Prosecutors across the country have a valuable new resource with the
creation of the National Center for Prosecution Ethics in April
2004. A project of the National College of District Attorneys (NCDA),
it is sponsored by the USC School of Law and the National District
Attorneys Association. The center provides prosecutors with
information related to the rules of professional conduct, ethics
advisory opinions, disciplinary opinions, and appellate decisions
involving ethical issues.
Amie Clifford, Class of 1982, an assistant director of programs with
the NCDA, currently serves as the director of the center. She
stresses that the purpose of the center is to educate prosecutors
about ethical obligations and help them fulfill these
responsibilities. “We provide them with resources and research
material, educational opportunities, and an open forum to discuss
ethics,” she said. “This allows them to make their own informed
judgments regarding ethical issues.” The center is the only
organization devoted to gathering and sharing such information and
resources with prosecutors.
 “The
center will be a valuable tool for prosecutors,” said John
Montgomery, former dean of the law school. “Prosecutors are
subjected to such a high level of scrutiny concerning ethical
decisions. This will be a truly unique and important resource.”
Montgomery worked closely with the NCDA and Steven Beckham, the
University’s Washington liaison, to obtain federal support to
establish the center.
The center currently employs two USC law students as legal interns.
Clifford and the students research and compile information pertinent
to prosecutorial ethics. A Web site is under construction to provide
access to appellate court decisions, disciplinary decisions, ethical
advisory opinions, and links to other relevant Web sites.
Plans for the future include hiring another attorney to assist
Clifford with the work of the center. A book on ethics for
prosecutors has been published under the auspices of the center, and
there are plans to publish another in spring 2005. Newsletters,
educational programs, and a national symposium are also in the
works. Clifford and Professor Rob Wilcox, who serves as the director
of the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism,
plan to collaborate on the development of a model curriculum for
ethics and professionalism to be used in legal education.
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