Ever since former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged in November 2011 with sexually molesting young boys, the school has remained a lightning rod for controversy, and after the recent sanctions imposed by the NCAA, some wonder whether the school’s once-revered football program will survive. Regardless of where you stand on the university’s handling of the incident, one thing is clear: much could have been done to avoid it.
While tragic and appalling, we can look at incidents like what occurred at Penn State and hopefully draw some valuable lessons to teach us how we, as young lawyers, can better ourselves as professionals in the difficult and challenging circumstances we face in our own daily practices. Although most of us will hopefully never be confronted with the horrifying conduct that went on at Penn State, we can draw three simple lessons in hindsight that we hope can guide us in our decision-making moving forward.
