Section II (D) of the Code of Student Conduct subjects students who “plagiarize or use unauthorized materials in work submitted in any academic pursuit of Law School competition” to disciplinary sanction. In order to provide students with clearer guidance, the following sets forth the Faculty’s policy regarding what constitutes plagiarism and the use of unauthorized materials.

First, this policy applies to all academic pursuits and co-curricular activities in the Law School, including any course papers, take-home examinations, Law School journal submissions, Moot Court briefs, and any other written material submitted in competitions either sponsored by, or in which the student represents, the Law School.

Second, the Faculty interprets the term “plagiarize” to include any substantial occurrence of the following:

  • the failure properly to attribute directly quoted material;
  • the failure properly to attribute paraphrased material;
  • the fabrication of attributions, or
  • the representation of another’s ideas, or a portion of another’s work, as one’s own.

Third, the term “use unauthorized materials” includes, but is not limited to, a student’s use, without the prior approval of a member of the Faculty, of his or her own work-product which had previously been submitted, or is concurrently used, to satisfy any other academic, journal, competition, co-curricular, or employment requirement.