By: Rosa Castello, Associate Dean for Assessment and Accreditation &
Professor of Legal Writing, St. John’s Law School

Last summer I started reading “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights” by Kenji Yoshino. I wanted to read the book because I teach a course about perspectives on civil rights, and I thought it would be helpful and interesting. I didn’t think about it in the context of professional identity formation, but I couldn’t help but think about how some of the things Yoshino discussed were intimately connected with forming a professional identity. Through a personal narrative, Yoshino explains two sociology concepts about identity: passing and covering. Relying on work by Erving Goffman, he explains that passing is about the visibility of a trait while covering is about its obtrusiveness. When one attempts to keep a trait invisible from others, that person is “passing.” However, if the trait is visible or known, when the person attempts to downplay the trait then that person is “covering.”

When I read this part of the book, I thought about how these concepts come into play in the professional identity formation of our students. Who are our students when they enter law school? Are there parts of themselves that they cover? Do they attempt to “pass” as something other than what they are? If they don’t enter law school that way, does law school in some way make them feel that they must “pass” as a lawyer (with all the heteronormative androcentric whiteness that usually indicates) or “cover” parts of themselves to be a law student and lawyer?

As I was teaching Law & Literature for the first time last fall, these thoughts came back to me during discussions we had in class about how some of the characters in the books we read felt they had to hide parts of themselves from society, from loved ones, and even from themselves at times. It made me think about Yoshino’s discussion about passing and covering, and I wanted to incorporate parts of his work into our discussions. But I also wanted to broaden the discussion and have students reflect on their own professional identity formation. Thus emerged the PIF Venn Diagram exercise.

I assigned students portions of Yoshino’s book to read before class and asked them to think about Yoshino’s story and his explanation of passing and covering. I asked them to think about how the characters in some of the novels we had read so far might have been “passing” or “covering” and to reflect on their own identity traits and whether they ever felt they had to pass as something or cover an aspect of themselves. I told them we would discuss this in class the next time we met.

I began class by having the students break into small groups and discuss what I had asked them to prepare before class. Then we regrouped as a larger class and students shared thoughts from their discussions and from their own reflections. I then told students that I wanted them to take 10 minutes and think about their identity – who they were, what their traits were, how they identified themselves, what values they had, anything like that – and make a list.

Considering that list, I asked them to think about their identities in law school, outside law school, with their families, with their friends, and in any other setting or situation that was relevant to them. I distributed 8.5×11 paper and asked them to make a circle for each setting they identified and then within each circle list the different traits, values, etc., from their master list that they demonstrated and fully embodied in that setting and omit the ones that they covered. I then told them to draw a Venn diagram where the intersection of the circles would be the traits and identities they fully demonstrated and embodied in each setting and outside the intersection would be traits and identities they fully demonstrated in a particular setting.

We regrouped after students completed their Venn diagrams, and students had the opportunity to share thoughts about their identity inside and outside school and “the law.” Students discussed how their identity might be consistent or different and what they realized, felt, or knew that they covered in law school or attempted to “pass” as. This conversation was voluntary; students did not need to share their thoughts or diagrams. But most students did and were eager to discuss the parts of themselves that they didn’t bring to law school and why and whether after this exercise that might change. It led naturally to a conversation about being a lawyer, who is “a lawyer,” and what is expected from lawyers in the profession. We talked about the importance of authenticity and how being yourself would serve clients and justice and make you a happier lawyer.

For example, one Muslim student who wore a hijab discussed how she could not cover her ethnic and religious identity, but she did feel pressure to “pass” in law school by not openly discussing and sharing aspects of that part of herself that were an important part of her identity outside law school. Several students shared stories about passing or covering aspects of their identity connected to their culture or race. Some students talked about the pressures they felt to pass or cover their identity as a parent or older student. An openly gay woman shared how law school is actually an environment where she didn’t feel the need to cover her sexuality, but she has in other environments and experiences outside law school.

I would love to do this exercise again in other classes. What I learned from my students enlightened me. We make assumptions sometimes as professors about who our students are and what they should be like to enter the profession. This exercise showed me more clearly who our students actually are and what they cover or think they must cover to be law students and lawyers. It was an intentional and thoughtful way to think about and explore with them why we cover parts of ourselves or feel we need to “pass” in the legal profession. I shared with them my own reflections on what I covered in my identity as a law professor. They shared with me thoughts about what they valued in law professors. In the end, the exercise reframed my own professional identity, and I hope it helped students on their journey to developing their professional identity.

Please feel free to contact me at castellr@stjohns.edu if you have any questions or comments.