September 25, 2019 – Practising Law Institute (PLI), a nonprofit provider of authoritative legal training and continuing education, earned a Gold Award, the highest level of recognition, in the "Best Use of Video for Learning" category in the Brandon Hall Group's Excellence Awards. Since 1999, the Excellence Awards, which attracts entrants from leading organizations globally, has recognized those that have deployed exemplary learning programs.
"Throughout our history, PLI has shown a history of innovation in our products and services through our commitment to keeping the legal community at the forefront of their practice," said Kara O'Brien, Vice President of Programs at PLI. "Motivated Reasoning and Legal Ethics, created by our Interactive Learning Center, adds to that history with this interactive video experience which proves useful to all attorneys."
The program demonstrates how motivated reasoning can lead attorneys to act unethically or remain silent in the face of unethical behavior. Furthermore, it shows how even after these ethical lapses, actors often continue to believe that they have done nothing wrong. The program explains, in detail, what motivated reasoning is, describes and demonstrates the most common social-cognitive biases that comprise motivated reasoning, and provides strategies to help attorneys overcome these biases, so they behave ethically. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct is mentioned and referred to at times in discussion, scenarios, and examples.
"Many ethics programs focus on shining a light on wrongdoing without explaining how good people ended up in those situations," said PLI's Director of R&D, JC Kinnamon, Ph.D. "Motivated Reasoning and Legal Ethics is different; it gets into the unconscious biases that take people down a path they had no intention of going down. It encompasses a far deeper analysis of human behavior than you typically see in continuing legal education."
Motivated Reasoning and Legal Ethics features thought leaders from law schools, including Tigran W. Eldred from New England Law and Molly J. Walker Wilson from Saint Louis University School of Law, and is available on www.PLI.edu. This Gold Award is the eighth award given to PLI Interactive Learning Center programs.
About PLI
Practising Law Institute is a nonprofit learning organization dedicated to keeping attorneys and other professionals at the forefront of knowledge and expertise. PLI is chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York, and was founded in 1933 by Harold P. Seligson. PLI provides the highest quality, accredited, continuing legal and professional education programs in a variety of formats. This content is delivered by more than 4,000 volunteer faculty, including prominent lawyers, judges, investment bankers, accountants, corporate counsel, and U.S. and international government regulators. PLI publishes a comprehensive library of treatises, course handbooks, answer books and journals, also available through the PLI PLUS online platform. The essence of PLI's mission is its commitment to the pro bono community – PLI's pro bono attendance this past year exceeded 110,000 individuals.