Filter to a duty if you want to focus your table, or leave it on All duties for the full deck. Then draw.
Draw & read
One person draws a card and reads the situation and the big question aloud to the table.
Think first
Everyone reads the guiding questions alone and jots a first answer to the big question — before anyone speaks. This protects the quiet voices.
Discuss
Go around once so every voice is in. Then work the guiding questions. Name the Texas rule in play and push on where good defense lawyers would disagree.
Land it
Pick a note-taker. Agree on what your table will report out, using the prompts below.
Before you share out, land your table on three things. Keep it short — one line each — so several tables can report in the time you have.
- The sharpest tension. What is the real conflict in this card — efficiency versus a duty, speed versus the client, access versus a risk?
- Where you disagreed. Name the point reasonable defense lawyers at your table split on, and why. Disagreement is the useful part.
- One practice rule. Finish this sentence: “We will…” or “We will not…” — a single guardrail you would actually adopt in your practice.
Facilitator's synthesis. Don't have each table replay everything. Ask: what theme showed up across tables? Where was the most interesting disagreement? Did anyone land somewhere surprising? Capture the “We will / We will not” statements — those are the takeaway.
Ethical Guardrail Checklist
The eight-point, one-page check that turns these conversations into a routine you run before relying on any output.
PBL Scenario Lab
Put the duties to work: run a fictional defense problem through the TCDLAi framework, from the vague prompt to the grounded, verified one.