This course provides an introduction to the legal profession, professional norms and values, and the ethical issues that lawyers encounter, not only in the context of their varied roles, but also as members of a profession with collective responsibilities — access to justice, the rule of law, or the public interest all implicate a lawyer’s ethical responsibilities and impact the way that both individuals and communities experience the legal system. The course explores questions of how legal professionals working in different settings such as private practice, government, legal aid clinics, the legal academy, or beyond the formal practice of law should conceptualize their roles, obligations and opportunities. It explores different lawyering visions; that is, visions of how one undertakes the tasks of lawyering. In the process of doing this, the course draws students’ attention to the power dynamics in lawyer-client relationships, including racism, sexism, disability, and related issues. The increasingly pluralistic nature of modern local communities demands that the vast majority of lawyers will be required to work in contexts that require cross-cultural competencies and sensitivities to diverse moral perspectives. As well, the course pays close attention throughout to the varied impacts of globalization on the general practice of law, the regulation of the legal profession and the day-to-day work of Canadian lawyers.