About This Site
I created this site as a way to blog about legal ethics and the profession. In particular, I conduct empirical research on lawyer disciplinary sanctions, so I anticipate that most of my posts will be about disciplinary sanctions of interest. My hope is that professional responsibility professors, disciplinary authorities, and others interested in legal ethics (including my students!) will find this information and commentary helpful.
About Me
I am an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Previously I was a faculty member and senior administrator at the University of North Carolina School of Law and University of Minnesota Law School. I graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law, served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and was an officer in the North Carolina Army National Guard.
I research and write in the fields of legal ethics and intellectual property law. My articles have been or will be published in the Boston College Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, George Washington Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, BYU Law Review, Tulane Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Stanford Technology Law Review, and Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, among others. Within the field of legal ethics, I examine the extent to which lawyer codes and disciplinary procedures promote ethical practice and protect the public. My most recent article on private lawyer sanctions was awarded the 2024 Fred C. Zacharias Memorial Prize for Scholarship in Professional Responsibility, which is given to an outstanding article published during the previous year. Within intellectual property law, my work explores the outer limits of trademark protection and the lawyer’s role in trademark prosecution. My latest work on sound trademarks with Professor Deborah R. Gerhardt was selected for inclusion at the 2023 Harvard-NYU-Penn Trademarks and Unfair Competition Roundtable.
My primary teaching areas include Professional Responsibility, Property, Evidence, Contracts, Torts, and intellectual property courses. I received the Stanley V. Kinyon Skills Teacher of the Year Award when I was at Minnesota Law and the Robert G. Byrd Award for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching when I was at the UNC School of Law.
In 2024, I was appointed to serve as the Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence to the National Conference of Bar Examiners. This role allows me to provide my perspective to a variety of initiatives at NCBE related to the creation and development of the NextGen bar examination. I also currently serve as Chair-Elect of the AALS Professional Responsibility Section, as a member of the Executive Committee of the AALS Law Professors with Disabilities and Allies Section, and as a member of LSAC’s Innovation and Emerging Markets Committee.
Download the latest copy of my CV.
Email me at jon.lee@ou.edu.