Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Several recent scandals in higher education have illuminated notable weaknesses in the academy’s scholarly self-monitoring function. Plagiarism, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and shocking allegations of data fraud have arisen in contexts suggesting real weaknesses in peer review and other internal monitoring mechanisms.
Although the legal academy is different in many ways from the rest of higher education, it is hardly immune to the familiar precursors of fraud—opportunity, pressure, and rationalizations. Moreover, the academy's reliance on student-written law reviews creates additional challenges for holding wayward legal scholars accountable for their integrity violations.
This Essay, written for a Symposium hosted by the Fordham Law Review, argues that the legal academy must pay its integrity risks greater attention, especially in light of emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.
After setting forth a brief taxonomy of wrongdoing, the Essay examines the legal academy’s strengths and weaknesses in meeting its integrity risks, and then, drawing on lessons from the corporate compliance field, proposes several reforms.
Recommended Citation
Miriam H. Baer,
Taking Integrity Risks Seriously,
93
Fordham L. Rev.
1119
(2025).
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/fs/518