Professor Renee Knake Jefferson | Discussion of a Code of Ethics for the Supreme Court

Legal Tenzer: Casual Conversations on Noteworthy Legal Topics

In this episode, Professor Renee Knake Jefferson, Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics at the University of Houston Law Center, sheds insight into why the Supreme Court is unlikely to adopt its own code of Ethics. Our discussion looks back at why the Supreme Court is the only judicial body exempt from an ethics code and considers proposals that may become a reality in the future.
About Our Guest:
Professor Renee Knake Jefferson holds the Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics at the University of Houston Law Center, and is an internationally recognized expert on legal and judicial ethics. At the Law Center, she currently teaches Professional Responsibility and a writing seminar on leadership. Other courses previously taught include Constitutional Law, Federal Jurisdiction, Entrepreneurial Lawyering, the First Amendment and Lawyer Speech, and 21st Century Law Practice.
An award-winning scholar, she is the author of five books and more than 30 academic articles in leading journals such as Fordham Law Review, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Illinois Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal, Washington & Lee Law Review, Washington Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Forum. Her book, Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court, has been called “an excellent contribution” by the Library Journal and praised in numerous reviews. Jefferson’s work is frequently cited in range of media including the Associated Press, Bloomberg Law, CNN, Houston Chronicle, New York Times, Newsweek, Politico, Slate, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. She regularly appears on radio and television news shows, including MSNBC and National Public Radio.
Professor Jefferson often is called upon to consult and testify as an expert on lawyer and judicial ethics matters, including appearances before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary and the Supreme Court of Texas. She serves as a subject matter expert for the National Conference of Bar Examiners on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, and is a member of the West Academic Law School Advisory Board.
In 2015, Professor Jefferson was a scholar-in-residence at Stanford Law School's Center on the Legal Profession and a visiting scholar at the American Bar Foundation. In 2019, she held the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in Australia, where she conducted research for her forthcoming book, Law Democratized: A Blueprint for Solving the Justice Crisis.
Professor Jefferson has been selected for a range of leadership roles. She currently sits on the board of directors for the International Association of Legal Ethics. She was elected to the American Law Institute in 2017, and was named a fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2016. She is a past-chair for the Association of American Law Schools Section on Professional Responsibility. She was appointed as a reporter for the American Bar Association Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services from 2014-16. She served as a delegate to the World Economic Form Global Agenda Councils on Justice (2014-16) and Rule of Law (2013-14).