Case law as raw material for teaching ethics in public administration

ABSTRACT

This article argues that law cases are rich raw material for analytical ethics education in public administration. While scholars acknowledge that law can play some role in teaching ethics, they have aimed outside the law for ways to engage students in developing a sense of ethical responsibility. Law cases are a readily available resource to achieve this aim. Court decisions describe how parties and judges interpret the rules and ethical considerations as applied in practice, often with differing perspectives. This article describes a pedagogical approach that will engage students in critical analysis of the cases. It gives examples that have been used effectively in teaching ethics to public administration students, and illustrates how analysis of law cases can lead students to insights about public ethics challenges. This article also describes resources commonly available to university faculty for identifying and collecting suitable raw legal material.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics education
• law and public administration
• teaching methodology

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Charles Szypszak

Charles Szypszak is Albert Coates Distinguished Professor of public law and government at the School of Government of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He provides counsel to state, national, and international institutions, organizations, and public officials on real property registration and conveyance laws. In the School’s master of public administration program, he teaches the introduction to law course and an elective on military leadership and public service, and he teaches an introduction to legal thinking course in the University’s undergraduate curriculum. He also teaches internationally, including in Poland and Lithuania, twice on a Fulbright award. He has led teaching pedagogy courses and workshops to doctoral students and faculty at several universities internationally. He has been awarded the University’s Sitterson Freshman Teaching Award and the School’s Coates Teaching Excellence Award. Prior to joining the faculty in 2005, he was a director of a general practice firm in New Hampshire, where he provided counsel and advocacy for real estate and business matters. He was an adjunct professor of law at Franklin Pierce Law Center, a law clerk for Circuit Judge Hugh Bownes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned a B.A. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from San Diego State University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. His publications include the textbook Understanding Law for Public Administration, several books on law and leadership, and numerous journal articles on pedagogy, real property law, and other law subjects.