NASA's greatest tragedies share a common thread: smart people ignored warnings under pressure. The Apollo 1 fire killed three astronauts after known safety issues were dismissed to meet deadlines. Challenger exploded when engineers' O-ring warnings were overruled by "go fever." Each disaster offers stark lessons for lawyers facing identical pressures—client demands, court deadlines, firm culture pushing you to cut corners or ignore red flags. Professional legal educator, Stuart Teicher, Esq. (known as The CLE Performer) examines how these tragedies illuminate the path from small ethical compromises to catastrophic failures, and provides tools to prevent disasters in your own practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize "go fever" and deadline pressure that compromises competence, applying Challenger's lessons about schedule-driven decisions to maintain standards required by RPC 1.1 (Competence) and RPC 1.3 (Diligence) when clients or courts demand speed over thoroughness

• Identify normalization of deviance patterns where repeated small violations become accepted practice, using Apollo 1 and Columbia disaster analysis to strengthen compliance with RPC 1.7 (Conflict of Interest) and RPC 8.4 (Misconduct) before ethical drift becomes catastrophic

• Implement speak-up procedures when observing ethical concerns, drawing from engineer Roger Boisjoly's ignored Challenger warnings to fulfill duties under RPC 5.1 (Supervisory Responsibilities) and RPC 8.3 (Reporting Professional Misconduct) despite career risks