Law Student Professional Development and Formation

Law schools currently do an excellent job of helping students to “think like a lawyer,” but empirical data show that clients, legal employers, and the legal system need students to develop a wider range of competencies. This book helps legal educators to understand these competencies and provides practical ways to build them into a law school curriculum. Based on recommendations from the American Bar Association, the American Association of Law Schools, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, it will equip students with the skills they need not only to think but also to act and feel like a lawyer. With this proposed model, students will internalize the need for professional development toward excellence, their responsibility to others, a client-centered approach to problem solving, and strong well-being practices. These four goals constitute a lawyer’s professional identity, and this book empowers legal educators to foster each student’s development of a professional identity that leads to a gratifying career that serves society well. This title is Open Access.

Neil W. Hamilton has focused on the professional development and formation of law students in his teaching since 1987 and in his scholarship since 2001 with fifty-seven law journal articles and a book, ROADMAP: The Law Student’s Guide to Meaningful Employment (2d ed. 2018). He is the Thomas and Patricia Holloran Professor of Law and founding director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Louis D. Bilionis is Dean Emeritus and Droege Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and a Fellow at the Holloran Center. An experienced administrator, teacher, and scholar, he has focused particularly on strategies for leading change in legal education.