Dean Michael McGinniss of the University of North Dakota School of Law will serve as faculty for the Dec. 7 webinar for North Dakota municipal court judges. 

McGinniss will teach an ethics session on Canon 2 and the Duty of Impartiality. He is a regular faculty member for the municipal judges. McGinniss joined the UND School of Law faculty in 2010 and has taught courses on Professional Responsibility, Evidence, Conflict of Laws, Remedies, and Advanced Legal Ethics. His research and scholarship interests focus on questions concerning the professional, ethical, and moral responsibilities of lawyers.  His most recent law review article, Expressing Conscience with Candor: Saint Thomas More and First Freedoms in the Legal Profession, was published in 2019 in Volume 42 of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, which is Harvard Law’s top-ranked specialty journal. 

The Dec. 7 webinar is the second of a 6-part webinar series for the judges. The 90-minute trainings are held the first Monday of alternating months from October 2020 through August 2021. Under Administrative Rule 36, municipal judges are required to complete 18 hours of continuing education every three years with at least 1 hour in ethics or diversity and inclusion.

Judges should register in advance for the sessions using the links provided in the schedule of meetings and events on the court’s website or in the schedule below. Judges may also contact the Director of Education at lbarnhardt@ndcourts.gov for information on registration or questions about the schedule.