Ethics and Professionalism Symposia
On October 23, 2026, the Mercer Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, in partnership with the Mercer Law Review and Georgia Lawyers for the Rule of Law, held a symposium on “The Future of the United States Department of Justice: Restoring the Rule of Law.” Articles arising from the symposium will be published in the Mercer Law Review.
The program for the symposium was:
8:30 a.m.
Welcome & Introduction to the Program
Patrick E. Longan, W.A. Bootle Chair in Ethics and Professionalism, Mercer
University School of Law
8:45 a.m.
The View from the Top: Traditional Norms of the Department of Justice
Sally Q. Yates, Partner, King & Spalding — Former Acting Attorney General,
Deputy Attorney General, and United States Attorney (N.D. Georgia)
Rod J. Rosenstein, Partner, Baker & McKenzie — Former Deputy Attorney
General and United States Attorney (D. Maryland)
MODERATOR
Jill E. Steinberg, Former United States Attorney (S.D. Georgia) & Associate
Deputy Attorney General
The recording of this session is available here.
10:15 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m.
The Roles of the Department of Justice Ethics Offices
Benjamin Grimes, Lecturer in Law, Columbia Law School — Former Deputy
Director, DOJ Professional Responsibility Advisory Office
Joseph Tirrell, Former Director, DOJ Departmental Ethics Office
Bradley Weinsheimer, Former Department of Justice Associate Deputy
Attorney General & Senior Career Official
MODERATOR
Patrick E. Longan, W.A. Bootle Chair in Ethics and Professionalism, Mercer
University School of Law
The recording of this session is available here.
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m.
Restoring the Department of Justice at the Division Level
Christine Berger, Patricia Bauman Senior Fellow, Brennan Center for
Justice — Former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights
Division
Jody Hunt, General Counsel & VP for Government Affairs, Samford
University — Former Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division
Karen Kelly, Former Acting Assistant Attorney General and Acting Head of
the Tax Division, and former 30-year career DOJ Prosecutor.
MODERATOR
James P. Fleissner, Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law —
Former Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of Appeals, Criminal
Division (N.D. Ill.)
The recording of this session is available here.
2:30 p.m. Break
2:45 p.m.
Prosecutorial Discretion and Partisan Interference
Bruce A. Green, Louis Stein Chair, Fordham Law School
Rebecca Roiphe, Distinguished Professor of Law, New York Law School
Mary McCord, Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and
Protection; Visiting Professor, Georgetown Law — Former Acting Assistant
Attorney General for National Security and Assistant United States Attorney,
including as Chief of the Criminal Division, D.D.C.
MODERATOR
Walter Jospin, Retired Partner, Paul Hastings LLP — Former Director of the
Atlanta Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and
Co-Founder, Georgia Lawyers for the Rule of Law
4:15 p.m.
Concluding Remarks
Seth Kirschenbaum, Partner, Lotito & Kirschenbaum, Formerly Trial
Attorney, Antitrust Division and AUSA, N.D. Georgia, and Co-Founder,
Georgia Lawyers for the Rule of Law.
The recording of this session is available here.
The Mercer Center has sponsored the following symposia in past years. Proceedings and articles relating to each symposium are available in the Mercer Law Review.
2024: Current Issues in Professional Identity Formation. A recording of the symposium is available here. (Note: Because of technical difficulties, the first part of the first panel was not recorded.) 75 Mercer Law Review
2020: Ethics, Professionalism, and the Role of the Attorney General of the United States: Lessons from History 72 Mercer Law Review
2016: Educational Interventions to Cultivate Professional Identity in Law Students
68 Mercer Law Review2012: Defining and Enforcing the Federal Prosecutor’s Duty to Disclose Exculpatory Evidence
64 Mercer Law Review2008: Ethics and Professionalism in the Digital Age
60 Mercer Law Review2004: Judicial Ethics and Professionalism in a New Era of Judicial Selection
56 Mercer Law Review2003: Lessons from Enron
54 Mercer Law Review2001: Ethics and Professionalism in Settlement Negotiations
52 Mercer Law Review