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The George Washington University Inns of Court and Foundations of Practice Programs

By: Todd David Peterson, Professor of Law and Carville Dickinson Benson Research Professor, The George Washington University Law School

This blog provides an overview of the George Washington University Law School (GW Law) Inns of Court and Foundations of Practice programs, which form the voluntary half of our 1L professional identity curriculum.[1] First, I will provide some history on the programs, and then I will briefly describe the linked PDF [2] of the materials, which we provided to our Inn advisors this year. The Inn advisors’ material contains everything you might need to know about the program in general and how professional identity formation (PIF) is infused into the program.

The Inns of Court program, recipient of the 2018 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award presented by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism, began in 2012 with five day-section Inns and one evening section Inn. In 2023 we added an Inn for LL.M students (which will not be covered in this post), and this year we added a sixth day-section Inn to reduce the size of the largest Inns. Each Inn corresponds to a teaching section, so the members of an Inn will have all their 1L classes with the others in their Inn. Each Inn has a set of advisors from virtually every part of the law school, including doctrinal faculty, Fundamentals of Lawyering faculty, clinical faculty, and representatives from the Dean of Students office, the Career Development Office, and the library. In addition, each Inn has 5-6 upper-level student advisors. The Inns meet once a week with all the advisors in attendance and participating as coaches in the interactive parts of the program.

The Foundations of Practice program began in 2016 to encourage participation in the Inns programs and other activities that are related to PIF and the development of important legal skills. This program provides a list of activities that are important to students’ professional development. Students who complete the Foundations requirements by the end of their 1L year receive the Dean’s Professional Development Award. Although this program is voluntary, at this point, a little over half of the 1L class typically earns the Dean’s Award.

We provide the materials in the PDF to all of our Inn advisors to prepare them to participate in the Inns program and assist our students with the weekly Inns sessions. Here are the individual components of the PDF:

(1) The first document is a two-page description of the Inns of Court program, which goes into a little more detail than my description above.

(2) The second document is a brief description of the learning objectives we have for the students who participate in the Inns program. This goes to all 1L students in addition to the Inn advisors.

(3) The third document is a description of the seals for each Inn of Court. GW Law is a very large law school, with over 500 students in the 1L class. The Inns program is designed, in part, to give them a smaller community within the law school. We designed the Inn seals to further that sense of identity and connection to their Inn’s community. We build on that by giving the students tee shirts, tote bags and other items with their Inn’s seal on them. Our students show a surprisingly strong connection to their Inn’s namesake and their Inn identity.

(4) The fourth document is a letter from the Dean that goes out to all 1L students at the beginning of the school year. In addition to informing the students about the Dean’s Award and encouraging them to participate, the letter also sets forth the specific requirements for the Dean’s Award. Students then log their completion of the program elements in an online app called FoundationsTrax, which also gives them a dashboard that shows what they have completed and what remains to be done to receive the Dean’s Award.

(5) The fifth document is a chart listing all our Inn advisors for this school year, along with their institutional role. Our goal, as noted above, is for each Inn to have advisors from all parts of the law school.

(6) The sixth document is a memorandum from me to all Inn advisors, which explains the concepts that form the core of the Inns program — professional identity formation and self-direction — and offers tips on how Inn advisors can support students with respect to these concepts. The attachments to the memo include Neil Hamilton’s (Co-Director of the Holloran Center at the University of St. Thomas School of Law) chart of the four stages of self-directed learning and a list of the questions that form our online self-directedness assessment, which students can use to determine how far along the development curve they are.

(7) The seventh document is a memorandum we provide to our upper-level student Inn advisors on how to be meaningful contributors to the Inns program. This document includes ideas about how to contribute to the individual sessions we have during the fall semester.

(8) The eighth document is a brief description of our fall Inns of Court sessions. At some point, I will do additional blog posts that go into these sessions in more detail.

(9) The ninth document is a memo for Inn advisors drafted by the former Director of the Fundamentals of Lawyering program about how to lead small group discussions.

(10) The tenth and final document is a description of the Inns Professional Development Advisory Council, which is made up of professional development experts at law firms, the government and public interest groups. The composition of the Council has changed over time as the members cycle on and off. This group advises the Inns leadership on how we can improve the Inns program and what new session topics would benefit our students. The members also lead some of the programs during the year.

If you have any questions or comments about our Inns program or this post, then please feel free to contact me at tpeter@law.gwu.edu.

[1] The other half of our 1L professional identity formation curriculum is a mandatory 1L course titled Fundamentals of Lawyering. This course was created in 2019 by adding a credit to each semester of the 1L legal research and writing class. The additional credit hours were used to focus on professional identity formation and create a client-centered environment in which to teach research and writing skills.
[2] Please note that you must click once on the link and then on the thumbnail to open the full PDF.

Todd Peterson is a Professor of Law and the Carville Dickinson Benson Research Professor at the George Washington University Law School. He teaches Civil Procedure, Law of Separation of Powers, and Professional Identity Formation. He is also the Director of the GW Law Inns of Court and Foundations of Practice programs, which focus on professional identity formation.

September 23, 2024 by hami3258

Debunking Common Misconceptions About Professional Identity Formation and Our Take on How to Incorporate it Into the 1L Skills Classroom

By: Marni Goldstein Caputo and Kathleen Luz, Senior Lecturers in Boston University School of Law’s Lawyering Program

Due to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) recent adoption of Standard 303(b)(3), the term “professional identity formation” is now used in a more widespread manner throughout law schools. But what, exactly, is it? And how, exactly, should it be introduced into the 1L curriculum? Further, why do law schools tend to downgrade the importance – or rigorousness – of professional identity formation? When they do so, they risk missing a critical opportunity to develop whole, purpose-driven, mindful future lawyers. We seek here to explain our unique take on professional identity formation, debunk some common misconceptions, and combat the relative institutional diminishment of the importance of 303(b)(3).

What is Professional Identity Formation?

ABA Standard 303(b)(3) mandates, somewhat vaguely, that “[a] law school shall provide substantial opportunities to students for: ….(3) the development of a professional identity.” ABA Interpretation 303-5 clarifies that vagueness, but only to a limited extent, stating:

Professional identity focuses on what it means to be a lawyer and the special obligations lawyers have to their clients and society. The development of professional identity should involve an intentional exploration of the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice. Because developing a professional identity requires reflection and growth over time, students should have frequent opportunities for such development during each year of law school and in a variety of courses and co-curricular and professional development activities.

Thankfully, scholars have amply filled in the gaps with definitions like this one: “Professional identity is the way a lawyer understands [their] role relative to all of the stakeholders in the legal system, including clients, courts, opposing parties and counsel, the firm, and even the legal system itself (or society as a whole). Professional identity . . . encompass[es] the ideals each of us holds regarding our professional roles, and how we apply those ideals to the complex situations we encounter in our professional lives.”[1] Thus, professional identity formation involves looking inward and outward, reflecting not only on a student’s or lawyer’s own purpose, but on their role vis a vis others in the legal system. Below, we offer our take on what professional identity means and what formation of that identity entails.

Our Unique Take?

As 1L lawyering skills professors, we spend the majority of our time teaching “hard skills” – legal writing and analysis, oral communication skills, and others. But professional identity formation involves developing a different skill set — skills which have often been referred to as “soft skills.” We reject this nomenclature because it minimizes the importance of these skills. Thus, we refer to them as “character-based” skills, which are as critically important to the development of new lawyers and their professional identities.

Furthermore, we have coined unique terms to divide character-based skills into two categories:

Inward facing character-based skills are those necessary to the development of self, including a lawyer’s decision-making process, purpose, priorities, boundary-setting mechanisms, mindfulness, and well-being.[2]
Outward facing character-based skills are those necessary to interact with other stakeholders in the legal system like clients, colleagues, and judges; these skills include empathy, active listening, patience, and teamwork.[3]

Moreover, our unique perspective on professional identity formation rests on how we incorporate these skills into our 1L lawyering skills classroom. We believe that professional identity formation is not just a concept – it is an applied concept. Specifically, we teach it through the introduction, then practice, and then reflection of character-based skills. This process involves three steps:

Step 1 – Introducing the character-based skills: We introduce character-based skills through pre-reading and then a discussion of the reading in class. When possible, our discussion involves exploring the stories of real-life lawyers who either did – or did not – demonstrate these skills and the fallout from their successes or failures.
Step 2 – Practicing the character-based skills: We try to dive right into this stage as quickly as possible. We spend less time saying, “be an active listener” or “remember to know and protect your moral boundaries,” and more time connecting the use of these skills to graded research and writing assignments or simulations related to those assignments. For example, students may need to counsel a client who makes unethical suggestions after the student has researched and analyzed a core legal issue related to that client, as well as written a memo about that issue. Or students might be required to make choices and decisions in a pressurized lawyering scenario and use their discretion when choosing between two legally appropriate options. In the doing of these exercises, students practice the relevant character-based skills they just learned.
Step 3 – Reflecting on the skills: After students practice the skill, we reflect on what it felt like and how it went, and how they might improve that skill the next time they use it. Through this reflection, students finally connect their handling of this skill to the broader concept of their professional identity. For example, when they asked questions to their client, were they empathetic and/or did they actively listen? Do they feel comfortable with the power of discretion when making a choice? Where are their boundaries? What values shape those boundaries? How will they make difficult choices while honoring those values and boundaries? What is the state of the student’s current professional identity, and how will the student progress and grow?

In this way, we choreograph a progression in which students “back into” professional identity formation through learning character-based skills in a manner attached to graded assignments oriented around “hard skills.” Introducing these critical skills in this manner avoids amorphous discussions that serve to minimize their rigorousness. Rather, this method allows students to tie these character-based skills to other lawyering skills, hopefully causing them to draw upon those experiences in their future practice. Therefore, students begin the process of professional identity formation as early as the fall semester of their 1L year.

Why Are There Misconceptions About Professional Identity Formation?

The lack of clarity provided by the ABA’s standard and interpretation, and the ABA’s use of words like “values,” “principles,” and “well-being” to interpret it, can make professional identity seem less concrete, or even like an amorphous concept. As a result, it has sometimes mistakenly been perceived as a topic that can be addressed in a piecemeal, around-the-edges fashion. Or it can be erroneously cabined to the career office for 1Ls, to externships and clinics for 2Ls and 3Ls, and to a variety of summer jobs for all students.

Even further obscuring the perceived importance of 303(b)(3) was its concurrent inception with ABA Standard 303(c), which requires law schools to teach all students about bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism. Law schools properly viewed the critical 303(c) topics as intellectually rigorous. They charged ahead to tackle the 303(c) requirement, hired new faculty and staff, and created dedicated classes and graduation requirements. Though there are certainly some exceptions, 303(b)(3) was less at the forefront for most law schools. We believe that this relative backburner effect is the result of some common misconceptions.

Debunking Misconception #1: Professional Identity Formation is NOT the Same as Professionalism or Professional Responsibility

First, professional identity formation is not the same as professionalism or professional responsibility. “While there is some overlap existing between the two concepts, these concepts are separable, and there is value in articulating two separate definitions and goals in this work and in our teaching. . . .”[4] Moreover,“[t]he shift from ‘professionalism’ to ‘professional identity’ is far from semantic. Governed by ethical rules and bound by occupational decorum, professionalism is extrinsically oriented. By contrast, professional identity is internal and interwoven with one’s morals, values, and character–i.e., identity.”[5]

While we believe the word “professionalism” can be exclusive and alienating, and thus we avoid its use with students, that topic is for a different blog post. For our purposes here, we note that we do teach what is typically referred to as “professionalism” through our course policies and rules. We require timeliness, thoroughness, appropriate communication with our teams, attention to detail, and respectful email and communication etiquette. Though highly important for the formation of future lawyers, those skills are not innately tied to professional identity formation.[6] Though we deeply respect the work done by the career office to ready students for job searches (one of us was a career advisor for a decade), we also believe that instruction about attire, timeliness, cover letters, and interview tactics are not truly connected to professional identity formation.

Similarly, professional identity formation is not the same as the topics covered in professional responsibility class. Rather, “[i]t is no longer reasonable that a single, required course in professional responsibility will somehow suffice to instill the long-lasting and deep values in legal ethics expected by both the members of our profession, clients, and the American public.”[7] Thus, a single professional responsibility course cannot alone satisfy ABA Standard 303(b)(3). When professional identity is incorrectly combined with professionalism and professional responsibility, the importance and scope of professional identity formation as contemplated by ABA Standard 303(b)(3) are minimized. We believe that the teaching methods we described above counter these misconceptions and weave character-based skills into the core 1L lawyering curriculum in a way that showcases, rather than minimizes, the importance of 303(b)(3).

Debunking Misconception #2: Professional Identity Formation is NOT an Amorphous Concept

There is a common misconception that professional identity formation is best done through soul-searching and broad conversations about dreams, fears, identities, and purpose. We certainly have those amazing conversations with our students in office hours, at school activities, and in individual student conferences. However, they are meant to complement our curricular, in-class approach, which is highly structured and skills-driven. Notably, not all students are willing to participate in those types of broad conversations or internally reflect in that manner and thus, relegating professional identity formation to that space would be inherently exclusive.

Because we structurally and pedagogically tie professional identity formation opportunities to assignments and simulations, we reject the perspective that teaching professional identity formation is an amorphous endeavor. Rather, professional identity formation appears on our syllabus and arises in our classrooms like traditional lawyering topics. Students are aware at the outset that professional identity formation is part of our course, as it is listed in our outcomes on the syllabus. Our goal is for our students to place equal importance on developing “hard” and character-based skills.

Debunking Misconception #3: It is NOT Untenable to Add Professional Identity Formation to a Busy 1L Skills Curriculum

Yes, the 1L skills curriculum is packed and most of us have a laundry list of worthy skills we simply cannot cover. However, that does not mean there is no room for professional identity formation. Rather, as outlined above, it just means being more purposeful and strategic with the 1L skills curriculum and capitalizing on those potential opportunities. Further, the ABA requires “frequent opportunities for such development during each year of law school and in a variety of courses.” Therefore, there is really no room to skip 1L year in terms of creating these opportunities.

Additionally, the 1L lawyering skills class provides the perfect opportunity for this type of professional identity formation. “It is naive and unrealistic to assume that our students only begin to develop their professional identities when they enter the world of practice. In fact, students begin to develop their professional identities from the first day of law school . . .”[8] Through the use of carefully constructed assignments, replicating the representation of real-world clients, our students are pushed to “back into” professional identity formation. Attaching these opportunities to assignments allows for time within the curriculum, without displacing any other critical skills.

Conclusion

Our goal here is to convince the doubters that professional identity formation is meaty and meaningful, and that 303(b)(3) is just as important as 303(c). In so doing, we hope to dispel some of the common misconceptions and combat what we feel has been a certain degree of institutional diminishment of professional identity formation. Of course, as 1L lawyering skills professors we also hope to encourage our peers to strategically incorporate professional identity formation into their 1L lawyering skills courses and to consider the character-based “backing into” approach we outline above. Incorporating professional identity formation into the 1L skills curriculum is not difficult or distracting, in that it seamlessly complements and dovetails with skills they already teach. Further, developing exercises, simulations, and assignments that cause students to practice character-based skills, and thus contemplate their professional identities, is fun and allows for a tremendous amount of creativity in the classroom.

[1] Martin J. Katz, Teaching Professional Identity in Law School, 42 Colo. Law. 45, 45 (2013).

[2] Marni G. Caputo & Kathleen Luz, Beyond “Hard” Skills: Teaching Outward- and Inward-Facing Character-Based Skills to 1Ls in Light of ABA Standard 303(B)(3)’s Professional Identity Requirement, 89 Brook. L. Rev. 809, 817 (2024); see also M. Walsh Fitzpatrick & R. Queenan, Professional Identity Formation, Leadership and Exploration of Self, 89 UMKC L. Rev. 539 (2021).

[3] Caputo & Luz, supra; see also S. Daicoff, Law as a Healing Profession: The “Comprehensive Law Movement,” 6 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 1 (2006).

[4] David I. C. Thomson, “Teaching” Formation of Professional Identity, 27 Regent U. L. Rev. 303, 316 (2015).

[5] Eduardo R.C. Capulong, et al., Antiracism, Reflection, and Professional Identity, 18 Hastings Race & Poverty L. J. 3, 5 (2021).

[6] See Maureen R. Van Neste, Law Student Professional Development and Formation: Bridging Law School, Student, and Employer Goals, Neil W. Hamilton and Louis D. Bilionis (Cambridge University Press 2022), 167 Pages, 27 Legal Writing: J. Legal Writing Inst. 309 (2023).

[7] Miriam R. Albert & Jennifer A. Gundlach, Bridging the Gap: How Introducing Ethical Skills Exercises Will Enrich Learning in First-Year Courses, 5 Drexel L. Rev. 165, 169 (2012).

[8] Albert & Gundlach, supra.

Marni Goldstein Caputo (L) and Kathleen Luz (R) are a Senior Lecturers at Boston University School of Law, where they teach Lawyering Skills to first-year law students. Their scholarship focuses on professional identity formation, legal writing pedagogy, and learning science.

September 3, 2024 by hami3258

Barbara Glesner FInes

Drawing Pictures as a Professional Identity Formation Tool

By: Barb Glesner Fines, Dean Emerita and Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law,
UMKC School of Law

As a new academic year begins, it’s that “fresh box of crayons” time of year. And so time for artwork to help us in understanding what it means to be a professional.

For over two decades, I have begun my Professional Responsibility (PR) class with a drawing exercise in which I ask students to “draw a picture of a professional.”[1] You could use this exercise in any course as we want our students to think about their professional identity formation throughout law school. Over the years, some things have remained constant with the pictures produced from this exercise – for example, briefcases still appear as the most frequent symbol of professionals.

Some things have changed. Women began appearing in about 2002 even though I had plenty of female students in my PR classes prior to 2002. Images of wealth and status waxed and waned. This year, after a six-year hiatus from teaching the PR course, I again repeated the experiment to see if new trends and assumptions were emerging. Here is my brief analysis of the new picture of professionals my students are bringing into the PR course.

It’s still hard work. Those briefcases are still there, this year with a litigation cart full of exhibits and a file cabinet stuffed full.
Technology is ubiquitous. Laptops, cell phones, smart watches… they haven’t quite replaced the briefcase, but they appear nonetheless.
Women are professionals. It’s hard to discern demographic data with stick figures (the artistic abilities of our students vary widely), but about 50% of the professionals appear to be women.
Not all professionals are attorneys. Professional athletes once again appeared as “bonus professionals”
Clients are in the picture! For nearly every year in which I conducted this exercise, the professionals in the picture were there alone. Occasionally a judge would appear. One-third of this semester’s students had a client in the picture (which is the punchline of the exercise – “a professional keeps the client in the picture”). The increased experiential opportunities (and requirements) of today’s students may explain why their picture of a professional reflects this vision of a service professional.

If you would like to see your students’ images of professionals, here are some suggestions.

Think about timing. I like to use this as an assignment on the first or second day. It’s a good ice-breaker, the students don’t have any preset notions of what they are “supposed” to draw, and you can use the pictures to develop themes you will emphasize during the course. For example, I always end the exercise by emphasizing to students that, as service professionals, we need to keep the client “in the picture” and remember that there are others in the picture as well for whom we have responsibilities.
Think about the image you are looking for. I start with “professional” because I use the exercise in professional responsibility, but you could ask for images of clients, lawyers, judges, or advocates… or even abstract concepts like justice or fairness.
Emphasize to the students that artistic talent doesn’t matter and that symbols are welcome. Discourage the use of words. Let students know that you will be showing some or all of the pictures to the class. Emphasize that the assignment is anonymous and they need not claim their artwork.
Collect the pictures and quickly sort through them for thematic elements. Use the document camera and just show one picture after another, noting the themes that jump out at you. Students will laugh and relax, which enhances learning. Difficult subjects can be raised without a lot of elaboration. I’ve had pictures raisestudent concerns about inclusion, wellness, workload, debt, and other deeply personal and difficult subjects. When students see they are not alone in these concerns, it opens doors for conversations.
I have never followed up the exercise with a written reflection, but one certainly could do so effectively.
Needless to say, while this exercise gives me a great deal of formative assessment of student attitudes and assumptions, it is not for a grade.

For ourselves, too, drawing exercises can be an excellent tool for capturing snapshots of perspectives and as a catalyst for reflection and conversation about professional identity. Recently, I had the opportunity to ask a group of legal educators to complete this same exercise but with the prompt to “draw a picture of a law professor.” [2]

How do you picture your professional identity?

^[1] To read more about this exercise and see pictures from students from 2007-2017, see Barbara Glesner Fines, Picturing Professionals: The Emergence of a Lawyer’s Identity, 14 U. St. Thomas L.J. 437 (2018) available at: https://irlaw.umkc.edu/faculty_works/94.

[2] My article exploring the identity of law professors based on this exercise is forthcoming in Volume 2 of the Journal of Law Teaching and Learning (forthcoming 2024) at https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/lawteachingjournal/.

Barbara Glesner Fines is the Dean and Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

Barbara Glesner Fines is the Dean Emerita and Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

August 23, 2024 by hami3258

Colette Schmidt, Stephanie Kupferman

Silent Struggle: Navigating Eating Disorders in the Legal Profession

By: Stephanie E. Kupferman, Associate Professor of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School
Colette C. Schmidt, Assistant Director of Career Services, Vermont Law and Graduate School

** TRIGGER WARNING: This blog post discusses the importance of good eating habits and toxic diet culture as related to the legal profession. If you are struggling with an eating disorder, please know that you’re not alone. Please refer to the following website: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-help/ and consider these following helplines:

ANAD Helpline: 1 (888) 375-7767
Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm CT
National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline: 1 (866) 662-1235
Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm ET
Diabulimia Helpline: 1 (425) 985-3635

YOU:              Why do I feel terrible?

BODY:          Coffee is not a meal.

BODY:          Eat a vegetable.

BODY:          Sleep.

YOU:              Guess we’ll never know.

BODY:          Oh my God……..

therahealth

__________________________________

While becoming an attorney is an undoubtedly fulfilling career, the requisite journey is a grueling process—a process that just doesn’t simply end when you become a barred attorney. From the genesis of a student’s legal career until retirement, the legal profession is, at minimum, unbelievably strenuous, taking its toll on the body and mind. From meeting client expectations to keen attention to detail, long hours, and billable hour requirements, when does an attorney find time to perform basic human functions, such as maintaining a healthy, nutritious way of eating?

Food is vital to brain function and performance. Due to the demands that accompany the legal profession, it is essential for a lawyer to maintain a balanced and nutritious way of eating.[1] A 2024 study conducted by the University of Warwick stated that “[a] balanced [way of eating] was associated with better mental health, superior cognitive functions and even higher amounts of grey matter in the brain–linked to intelligence–compared to those with a less varied diet.”[2] Further, sticking to foods that are low in salt, saturated fat, and sugar; avoiding processed foods; eating vegetables, fruit, and protein; and drinking lots of water are just among a few of the smaller choices that law students and lawyers can make on a daily basis.[3] Other attorneys have recommended stricter eating habits, such as a Mediterranean-based selection of food, which is “often hailed as one of the healthiest [eating selections] in the world,” and is “rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins (such as fish and poultry), and healthy fats (like olive oil and nuts).”[4] According to several studies, this way of eating yields improved sleep, reduction in inflammation, an increase in lifespan, a lower risk of heart disease in individuals assigned females at birth, a reduced risk of dementia and prostate cancer, improved vision with aging, and improved mental health.[5] Accordingly, it is absolutely imperative for attorneys to find time to eat as their mental health, work quality, and clients depend on it. One might even go so far as to recommend carving out eating times in a daily calendar.

But what appears to be more likely than not is that law students and attorneys will dismiss eating outright or work through lunch, blaming their lack of appetite on being too busy or stressed. When asked whether someone “has eaten today,” it is far too easy to respond with a small fib (e.g., “Of course I have!” or “I promise I’ll eat when I’m done with this outline/research assignment/brief.”). But what if the reason behind poor eating habits isn’t about the type of food eaten or the number of hours in a day? What if there is another issue lurking in the great depths of the legal profession, hidden behind carefully placed masks of unbreakable composure and perfection?

Unfortunately, data on attorneys who suffer from eating disorders does not appear to exist.[6] Even the 2016 Study on Lawyer Impairment referenced in last week’s blog post fails to address eating disorders as a separate and distinct category of mental health.[7] However, in the spring of 2014, fifteen law schools across the country engaged in a Survey of Law Student Well-Being (SLSWB).[8] In the survey, five questions were targeted at identifying eating disorders; further, two of those questions answered in the affirmative were indicative of a potential eating disorder.[9] The results were higher for law schools than those found in other programs: 27% of respondents showed signs of an eating disorder compared to 18% of undergraduate respondents and 14% of graduate respondents.[10] Further, 18% of law school respondents who screened positive for an eating disorder identified as male, whereas 34% identified as female.[11] Frighteningly, these results were inconsistent with a question on the SLSWB that asked about a formal diagnosis, in which approximately 3% of respondents said yes.[12] Of note, less than 3% of law school respondents reported receiving this diagnosis prior to law school.[13]

The landmark 2014 SLSWB study has certainly been impactful; in fact, the article summarizing the study has been downloaded more than 12,000 times.[14] A similar survey, once again only targeting law students, was conducted in 2021 (2021 SLSWB Survey).[15] Notwithstanding the 2015 DSM 5 reclassification of eating disorders,[16] the results were even more alarming than those initially identified in 2014: 29% of respondents showed signs of an eating disorder and 6.3% of individuals reported a formal diagnosis, 12% of whom reported receiving the diagnosis following the beginning of their law school careers.[17] The 2021 SLSWB survey still showed a large disparity in respondents’ gender identity: 35% of respondents who screened positive for an eating disorder identified as female and 19% of respondents identified as male.[18]

Why do so many of our students, and likely lawyers, suffer from eating disorders? Researchers have found that “eating disorders are caused by a complex interaction of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, and social factors.”[19] Whether it’s the similar personality types and high performers, sense of competition to be the best, fear of failure or vulnerability, societal pressures, or a mix of some (or more) of these factors, the law school environment that exists today across the country does not hold itself out to be a safe space for our students. Reading blogs online about former students’ struggles with eating disorders behind façades of a calm, cool, and collected appearance is deeply disturbing. One student recounted having “great grades” and being perceived as “an example of how to succeed in law school,” but resulted in having a significant eating disorder and burnout that the student had to attempt to remedy for the remainder of their law school career.[20] Another student recounted the toll that competing with students who used Ritalin to succeed academically had on their body.[21] One student recalled an on-campus bathroom where students “hung out and talked about how much [they] loved exercising while [they] ate [their] one tiny meal of the day.”[22] Many of these accounts also discussed obtaining high academic performance and law school success while they struggled privately.[23]

As a society, we have championed weight loss, particularly among those who identify as female. Alissa Rumsey, registered dietitian, nutrition therapist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and author, stated:

[o]ur culture equates thinness to health, happiness, attractiveness and worthiness, a system of beliefs that is often referred to as diet culture. To be thin is to be deemed morally superior, whereas to be fat is to be seen as unhealthy, lazy and a failure. In this way, our culture promotes dieting and weight loss as a way to achieve a higher status and worthiness. We’re told that we have to eat a certain way and be a certain size to be “healthy.”[24]

Weight bias and toxic diet culture are extremely dangerous for several reasons. Aside from the racist and sexist implications that accompany both of these dangers, anorexia has the highest mortality case rate of any other mental illness.[25] Studies show that a person dies from an eating disorder every 52 minutes.[26] Further, toxic diet culture masks other significant physical and mental health disorders; individuals have the tendency to assume that weight loss, no matter how rapid, is intentional and thus positive.[27] Weight bias and toxic diet culture also have economic impacts as well: a 2011 report revealed that a woman’s income might decrease by 6% for every additional 10% of her body mass, heightening an already unequal pay gap.[28]

Throughout our time in law school and while practicing, we both saw firsthand the demands associated with a successful career in private practice and beyond; we also experienced the societal pressures cast on those who identify as female to stay fit, healthy, and well-dressed while doing so. Professional aspirations, combined with societal pressures to be perceived as “thin” and the taboo nature of discussions surrounding eating disorders, perpetuate suffering in silence.

The absence of data cannot lead us to forget our colleagues, especially those who identify as male, within the legal profession. In April of 2017, Brian Cuban, Author and Keynote Speaker, published a popular blog, relaying the following story:

I remember the day in April 2007 I finally confided to my psychiatrist that I was struggling with drugs and alcohol. I did not mention at that time that I also struggled with both exercise and traditional bulimia for over two decades.

I felt completely stigmatized and alone in my eating disorder and did not feel that anyone, including him could understand or help. Adding to the stigma was my profession. Not only was I a male with an eating disorder, I was a male lawyer with an eating disorder. How stigmatizing was that? I have spoken openly about my eating disorder recovery for years and to this day, I am unaware of any other male in the legal profession who has publicly professed to dealing with an eating disorder. The hard statistics of how many males are afflicted with eating disorders tell us that they are of course out there. Along those same lines, I have received numerous emails from females in the legal profession who are struggling or in recovery from [eating disorders].[29]

Brian then discussed how it took time and a level of special vulnerability for him to be open to help and able to participate in recovery.[30] With regard to his personal eating disorder, he stated: “Binging and purging was a huge stress release for me during both law school and as [a] practicing lawyer. The same was true of my obsessive-compulsive exercise. Probably my biggest trigger issue present today.”[31] In closing, he recommended that his audience “be vulnerable and let those feelings out.”[32]

We can no longer let ourselves, or our colleagues, use being busy or stressed as an excuse to mask eating disorders. Please nourish your body and mind. Get help if you need it, your loved ones will thank you for it. Be vulnerable. Let those feelings out. Check in on your friends, colleagues, and students and allow yourself to be checked in on, too. No career path is worth the expense of your mental and physical health. And we promise, you are not, nor will you ever be, alone.

[1] The Best Diets for Attorneys, The Impact Lawyers, https://theimpactlawyers.com/articles/the-best-diets-for-attorneys (last visited July 17, 2024).

[2] New Research Shows ‘Profound Link’ Between Dietary Choices and Brain Health, ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2024), https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240424111638.htm#:~:text=A%20balanced%20diet%20was%20associated,with%20a%20less%20varied%20diet.

[3] Id.; see also Eating Processed Foods, NHS (last reviewed June 12, 2023), https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-to-eat-a-balanced-diet/what-are-processed-foods/ (“Not all processed foods are unhealthy but some processed foods may contain high levels of salt, sugar and fat.”).

[4] [4] The Best Diets for Attorneys, The Impact Lawyers, https://theimpactlawyers.com/articles/the-best-diets-for-attorneys (last visited July 17, 2024).

[5] Beth Ann Mayer, 8 Ways the Mediterranean Diet Can Help You Live a Longer and Healthier Life, healthline (Apr. 25, 2023), https://www.healthline.com/health-news/8-ways-the-mediterranean-diet-can-help-you-live-a-longer-and-healthier-life#How-to-start-the-Mediterranean-diet.

[6] See Don Blackwell, Why Lawyers Should Begin Discussing About Mental Health’s No. 1 Killer, rocket matter, https://www.rocketmatter.com/blog/why-lawyers-need-to-start-talking-about-mental-healths-no-1-killer/ (last visited July 17, 2024) (“Similar data for practicing attorneys is sparse, if not non-existent.”).

[7] Id.

[8] Jerome M. Organ, David B. Jaffe, & Katherine M. Bender, Ph.D., Suffering in Silence: The Survey of Law Student Well-Being and the Reluctance of Law Students to Seek Help for Substance Use and Mental Health Concerns, 66 J. of Legal Edu. 1, 166 (Autum 2016).

[9] Id. at 138.

[10] Id. at 139.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] David Jaffe, et al., ‘It is Okay to Not Be Okay’: The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being, 60 U. Louisville L. Rev. 439, 439 (2022).

[15] Id.

[16] Note, however, that the criteria for disordered eating has changed to encapsulate a broader range of people from 2014 to 2021: “Thus, one could surmise that with the new classification system, which includes more than anorexia and bulimia, that there are a larger percentage of individuals who meet the criteria for disordered eating now who did not in 2014.” Id. at 466.

[17] Id. at 465-66.

[18] Id. at 466.

[19] Eating Disorders, Nat. Inst. of Mental Health, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders#:~:text=Researchers%20are%20finding%20that%20eating,the%20study%20of%20human%20genes. (last visited July 17, 2024).

[20] Staci Zaretsky, The Struggle: When Law School Gives You An Eating Disorder, Above the Law, https://abovethelaw.com/2016/08/the-struggle-when-law-school-gives-you-an-eating-disorder/ (Aug. 24, 2016).

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Alyssa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS, Why Are We So Focused on Weight Loss?, US News (Nov. 27, 2020), https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/is-weight-loss-even-important.

[25] Eating Disorder Statistics, ANAD, https://anad.org/eating-disorder-statistic/#:~:text=In%20a%20sample%20from%20an,positive%20for%20an%20eating%20disorder.&text=Anorexia%20has%20the%20highest%20case,rate%20of%20any%20mental%20illness.&text=10%2C200%20deaths%20each%20year%20are,one%20death%20every%2052%20minutes (last visited July 18, 2024).

[26] Id.

[27] See Melinda Ratini, DO, Did Your Doctor Fat-Shame You? Was it Weight Bias?, WebMD (Mar. 15, 2024), https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/weight-stigma-fat-phobia.

[28] Pallavi Gogoi, The Weight Bias Against Women in the Workforce is Real – and its Only Getting Worse, npr (Apr. 29, 2023), https://www.npr.org/2023/04/29/1171593736/women-weight-bias-wages-workplace-wage-gap.

[29] Brian Cuban, Eating Disorders: A Secret in the Legal Profession, Blog (Apr. 26, 2017), https://briancuban.com/eating-disorders-a-secret-in-the-legal-profession/.

[30] Id.

[31] Id.

[32] Id.

Stephanie E. Kupferman, an associate professor of law, joined the Vermont Law & Graduate School Externship team in 2018, where she works to place law students in legal offices throughout the country for law school credit. Prior to joining VLGS, Stephanie was a seasoned litigator in NYC.

Colette C. Schmidt joined Vermont Law & Graduate School as the Assistant Director of Career Services in August of 2023, where she specializes in JD degree and career counseling, interviewing, and networking skills. Before law school, Colette worked in complex civil litigation and is licensed in both New Hampshire and Vermont.

August 6, 2024 by hami3258

David Grenardo

Using Reflection to Add a Meaningful Professional Identity Formation Exercise to a Doctrinal 1L Class

By: David A. Grenardo, Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, University of St. Thomas School of Law

It took me thirteen years of teaching to figure out how I could easily incorporate professional identity formation (PIF) for my 1L students into Contracts without taking up class time or sacrificing coverage. I should have thought of it much sooner, but I blame my ineptitude on the concussions I sustained while playing college football.

Revised ABA Standard 303(b) requires law schools to provide substantial opportunities to students to develop their professional identities. PIF needs self-reflection. Indeed, the revised ABA Standard includes Interpretation 3-303(5) that acknowledges PIF requires reflection (and growth) over time, and the frequent opportunities for reflection and growth should occur in a variety of places, including law school courses.

Moments of stress where a law student acts in the role of an attorney provide the best opportunities for law students to develop their professional identity. In other words, when law students perform as lawyers, such as in clinics, externships, or role-playing in classes, students begin to feel like lawyers and understand better what it means to be a lawyer while learning what type of lawyer they want to be.

When I call on 1Ls in my Contracts class, I have them stand up on either side of the room, typically four rows up in a stadium-style seating classroom, and each student represents the plaintiff or defendant in the cases assigned. The students do not know which side they will represent until class, and I use a wheel of names that chooses students randomly.

Arguing cases in the first semester or year of law school in front of 80 or more peers, when everyone is simply getting used to law school and learning the new language of law, is stressful. The way I conduct class also places the students in the role of lawyers. This is clearly a PIF moment, but I just needed to add one simple task to help 1Ls intentionally develop their professional identities in my class: self-reflection.

The rest of the blog will provide the exercise I added and the pedagogy I employ in the class.

The Exercise

Here is the language from my syllabus that describes the PIF exercise:

I plan to call on students randomly. You can be called on during any class, including more than once a semester. After you are called on, you will complete a reflection that is no fewer than 100 words. You will email me your reflection by midnight on the same day of your recitation. The reflection must include the following: what you did well; what you can improve on; and what, if anything, you will do differently in preparation for, and/or during, your next recitation.

Recitations in class are meant to help students develop into lawyers by providing them with opportunities to improve some of the skills they will need to be successful as lawyers. Please be supportive and encouraging to your classmates as they are called on in class.

I do not give the students grades on their reflections, but the reflections are mandatory, meaning a student’s overall grade can be reduced if they fail to turn in their reflection(s). Having finally realized all I needed to do was add a short reflection to provide an intentional and meaningful PIF opportunity, I found the benefits of the exercise (both intended and unintended) to be staggering.

I will discuss those benefits after I first explain how I set up my classroom and communicate my approach and expectations to the students.

Communicating Expectations

Creating a classroom environment where students feel free to make mistakes, experiment, and find their voice is critical. I explicitly tell students on the first day of class how we will be conducting class, with the wheel of names choosing who goes for the day, and students will be representing plaintiff or defendant. I tell them how what they are doing—arguing a case in front of 80 or more people when they find out only minutes before they argue—is not normal in the practice of law. Typically, as a lawyer, one writes the motion (and reply) or opposition, prepares for weeks, knows the issues, facts, and law backwards and forwards, and then goes to argue in court or on Zoom. As noted above, I tell them that this 1L process is even harder given that, particularly in the first semester, everyone is still learning the law and trying to understand how law school works.

I tell students that I do not want to find out any of them are making fun of any of their classmates for what their classmates have done when called on in this class. I urge them to be supportive and encouraging to their classmates. Most, if not all of them, are thinking the same thing when a classmate is called on, which is the same thing my college coach used to say, “Better you than me.” Students are just glad they are not called on; they are not dissecting every single word another student is saying and looking for mistakes.

I do allow them to make fun of one person in the class: me. If they feel an unyielding urge to criticize or mock someone, I invite them to target me and me alone in class. I have occasionally shown a picture of Vegeta, an anime character, whose receding and odd hairline apparently resembles my own, at least according to my two sons. I make plenty of jokes to let students know the practice of law can be enjoyable, and sometimes the jokes reduce the tension in the room. I often say that students should not worry about saying something stupid as I say many stupid things in class all the time.

Explaining the Pedagogy

When I call on students, we first start with the rules we studied for the day. For example, if we are discussing cases involving promissory estoppel, we go through each element of promissory estoppel with examples to understand what the rule is and how to apply it.

After we have covered the rule, I ask one of the counsel to tell me the facts. I then ask the opposing counsel to add any facts at this point that they think I should know.

Next, I ask about the legal issues involved, and we begin to apply the applicable rule(s) to the facts of the case for each issue. Once we determine the correct rule, I’ll ask plaintiff to make arguments on the first element of the rule. I will then ask defense counsel for counterarguments. And the parties argue each element.

I explain to students why I use this process. We start with the rule in class because if we do not know or understand the rule, then we cannot possibly analyze the case or fact pattern properly. In a case or on the exam, there will be facts or a fact pattern that they need to be familiar with, so that is why I have someone recite the facts (in a manner that advocates for their client).

When students become lawyers and they are making a closing argument, they might (as many attorneys do) use the jury instructions to show what they need to prove or disprove, and then go through each element and argue why they prevail based on the applicable evidence and why the other party should not. On my exam, I want them to argue both sides in their analysis.

Their exam answers in my class need to be written in IRAC form, which includes the issue, rule, analysis, and conclusion. Our class entails identifying the legal issue(s), stating and dissecting the rule, analyzing from both parties’ perspectives, and discussing the conclusion(s).

Put simply, what we do in class is exactly what they will be doing in practice and on my exam. I explicitly walk them through all of this to make sure they understand what I am doing and what I want them to accomplish.

Advantages of the Exercise

Several advantages, both expected and unexpected, came from the exercise. One, students were able to reflect on a formative experience that helped them understand what type of lawyers they were going to be and wanted to be. For example, those who were well-prepared discussed how much that meant to their performance, while those who were not as well-prepared lamented how they must improve in that area. The best lawyers are well-prepared.

Two, the exercise gave students something to feel positive about themselves. Most students recognized at least a few things that they did well, and I was able to affirm them through this exercise. Law school can often be devoid of positive reinforcement for law students during the 1L year. Early responses to students’ work in law school usually involve numerous red marks on their initial legal research and writing papers. By requiring each student to write a reflection, the students and I could recognize something positive they were doing as soon-to-be lawyers.

Three, I caught several people suffering from imposter syndrome. This was not my intent, but it was a positive unintended benefit. A handful of students reflected that they did nothing well, despite classmates telling them otherwise. Prior to doing this exercise, I did not always comment on how each student performed in class. I tried to catch students after class or in the hallway at some point, but I was not always successful. With the reflection, I make sure I respond to each student with some type of positive affirmation.[1]

For the folks who claimed they did nothing well, I gave them some tangible examples of what they actually did well—they had the facts down cold, meaning they were well-prepared, which is a trait of great lawyers; they analyzed certain rules or elements effectively; they showed poise and composure; they demonstrated professionalism throughout their recitation; they showed an amiable and/or likable personality, which will endear them to a jury or judge. Honest, positive critiques helped law students feel good about themselves and confident that they chose the right profession.

Four, law students in my class start to really feel like lawyers after they have stood up and argued in front of their peers. They have a sense of confidence that they can do the part of the job that requires them to advocate for their clients. And for the students who go twice, which was nearly all of them last year, they often reflected on how they appreciated the opportunity to improve with a second chance.

Finally, the last major benefit of the exercise related to jobs. When a student asked me to be a reference or write a letter of recommendation for them, I could go back to their reflection and my response to them to find solid evidence of something positive the student did (besides just their grade) that I could then relay enthusiastically to potential employers. I did not see this benefit coming, but it has been invaluable.

Advantages of the Wheel

The wheel removed bias from my cold-calling in class. In previous years, I would call on easy names to pronounce on the first day of class to avoid proving my stupidity too early in the semester. In the past, I might also be inclined to call on students I perceived to be smarter on harder cases, thereby precluding other students from the chance to show their abilities. The wheel possesses no bias, or at least it does not possess mine.

I also use the wheel to teach another valuable characteristic of a lawyer—being on time or, better yet, being early. When I attended a football camp at the University of Notre Dame when I was in high school, Notre Dame’s head football coach at the time, Lou Holtz, said that if you’re five minutes early, then you’re ten minutes late. As high school football players, it took us many weeks to decipher what Coach Holtz was trying to tell us. He meant that you need to be fifteen minutes early to be on time. Lawyers can be sanctioned for showing up to court late. In addition, showing up late demonstrates a lack of civility as it indicates to the client, opposing counsel, judge, or whomever you are meeting with, that you do not respect their time. I communicate this aspect of being a lawyer to the students, and I spin the wheel fifteen minutes before class. Students tend to arrive at least fifteen minutes before class starts.

You might be wondering what I call this magical wheel of names. I have two monikers for it—the wheel of fun, and the wheel of opportunity. Students, at the beginning of the semester, called it the wheel of death and the wheel of torture. This brings me to an important question: isn’t this wheel too stressful and anxiety-inducing for the students? In my class, I want to help prepare students for the practice of law. The practice of law can, at times, be extremely stressful and anxiety-inducing. I make a lot of (outstanding) jokes in class and try to create a fun, supportive environment, but make no mistake: I know this is stressful, and I want it to be stressful. When a student told me that the experience of the wheel helped them defend their client as a certified student attorney this past summer, that tells me this is all worth it. I am not trying to remove all stress from my class. In fact, I want students to expect stress, face it, and work through it, which is what they will need to do as attorneys if they want to be successful.

This exercise does not take away from class time or reduce course coverage. I highly recommend it, or some form of it, to anyone teaching a doctrinal 1L course.

Should you have any questions or comments about this post, please email me at gren2380@stthomas.edu.

[1] Two students (one representing plaintiff and the other the defendant) cover one case. We usually have one to three cases assigned for each class period. If we have three cases in a day, then I will receive six reflections. Thoughtfully responding to six students via email does not take a lot of time.

David Grenardo is a Professor of Law and Associate Director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

July 31, 2024 by hami3258

Rosa Castello

Helping Students Uncover Their Identities as Lawyers

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.

Rosa Castello is Associate Dean for Assessment and Accreditation and Professor of Legal Writing. She has presented at several conferences on topics including integrating skills and doctrine and assessment and law school culture, and her scholarship focuses on legal writing pedagogy and assessment.

July 23, 2024 by hami3258

Colette Schmidt, Stephanie Kupferman

An Introduction to Attorneys’ Mental Health & Wellbeing – Identifying that a Problem Exists (…and so does the Stigma)

By: Stephanie E. Kupferman, Assistant Professor of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School
Colette Schmidt, Assistant Director of Career Services, Vermont Law and Graduate School

“It is okay to not be okay,” even in the legal profession.[1]

The law is one of the only professions dedicated to righting wrongs, ensuring fairness, and striving to ensure that all people are treated equally. However, with great fulfillment comes monumental responsibility. Lawyers are consequently more vulnerable to stress, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse than nearly any other profession.[2] Anne Brafford, Vice President of Programming and former equity partner at Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP, opines in her Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers that being a lawyer is an immense privilege, allowing our law degrees to provide opportunities to contribute to the vitality of government, the business sector, community safety, and individual lives.[3] But with these grave responsibilities come concomitant stressors that need to be managed. Given that August is wellness month and discussions of mental health are still stigmatized in the legal profession, it feels like propitious timing to address a series of blog posts to wellness topics within the practice of law.

Within the past decade, the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs partnered with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation to conduct a never-before-seen study on lawyer impairment.[4] Results were, at minimum, alarming: of the 12,825 licensed and employed attorneys who participated in the survey, 20.6% of respondents’ scores indicated problematic drinking.[5] Further, 28% of respondents indicated some level of depression, 19% indicated some level of anxiety, and 11.5% reported having suicidal thoughts at some point in their career.[6] In sum, the full report noted that

Attorneys experience problematic drinking that is hazardous, harmful, or otherwise consistent with alcohol use disorders at a higher rate than other professional populations. Mental health distress is also significant. These data underscore the need for greater resources for lawyer assistance programs, and also the expansion of available attorney-specific prevention and treatment interventions.[7]

To address these issues, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) commissioned a task force through the Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (“CoLAP”), the National Organization of Bar Counsel (“NoBC”), and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APLR). The result? Organizations produced some amazing resources on wellness.[8] Wellness efforts have not simply remained at the national level; states nationwide have strived to improve the mental health of their attorneys. Jurisdictions nationwide have interpreted their Rules on Professional Conduct to make lawyer wellness a condition precedent to competency.[9] Additionally, Vermont now requires at least one credit of Attorney Wellness per MCLE reporting period.[10] And yet, the problem remains. According to a 2023 study, 66% of respondents reported that being in the legal profession has harmed their mental health to some degree, and 46% of respondents reported thoughts of leaving the profession altogether as a result of stress or burnout.[11]

The data is conclusive: mental health and substance abuse issues among lawyers exist. Lawyers have immense responsibilities consisting of long hours, vast amounts of legal research and writing, expectations of remaining up to date with statutes and regulations, and both ethical and professional duties to their clients and coworkers.[12] These responsibilities are no small feat. Unfortunately, with these crucial responsibilities comes a great level of stigma; lawyers have, and still do, struggle with openly discussing mental health issues/crises out of fear that their colleagues or clients will judge or lose trust in them.[13] However, concerns and privacy regarding mental health issues and the law does not begin when an attorney is faced with these responsibilities—it can begin as soon as a law student first steps foot on campus.

Being a law student is no easy feat. It involves competition, composure, the Socratic Method, and learning a new way of thinking (and writing). A law student also faces the pressures of social circles, class rankings, academic achievements, journal, and extracurricular involvement. Moreover, a law student must deal with the obscure usage of terminology and acronyms, along with the fear that others will be able to identify exactly what that law student doesn’t know. Law school is an entirely new universe for many individuals that decide to pursue this advanced degree, especially first-generation law students who have had no previous exposure to the legal field. Law school, by its very definition, is stressful. The stigma regarding mental health has been so pervasive that, in 2015, the ABA House of Delegates urged bar licensing entities to reconsider character and fitness questions relating to mental health histories and diagnoses.[14]

Simply put, to be a good lawyer, one must be a healthy lawyer. As shown above, the legal profession is already struggling to maintain public confidence within the profession and resultingly is addressing how to reduce the level of toxicity that has allowed mental health and substance use disorders to fester among our colleagues.[15] Not surprisingly, law schools are now also seeking to prioritize mental health among 1L’s too.[16]

As established above, mental health issues pervasively exist in the legal profession. Unfortunately, there is also an ever-looming stigma regarding mental health and the legal profession. But what can be done? What can we do? In this blog series, we will be discussing the eight pillars of wellbeing—as applied to the legal profession. We are Stephanie E. Kupferman, an assistant professor of law teaching in the externship program, and Colette C. Schmidt, assistant director of career services, and we call ourselves the “Ladies of Professional Development”. We are both former practicing attorneys who are here to provide you with advice and tips based on not only our experiences, but also science.

First up? Sleep and exercise! It’s no surprise that exercise is considered to be one of the most beneficial activities that people can engage in.[17] The National Institutes of Health conducted a study examining the gene activity, protein alterations, immune cell function, metabolite levels, and numerous other measures of cell and tissue function, which allows researchers to study the longer-term adaptations of the body to exercise. The Mayo Clinic found that there are seven benefits of regular physical activity: 1) “[e]xercise controls weight;” 2) “[e]xercise combats health conditions and diseases;” 3) “[e]xercise improves mood;” 4) “[e]xercise boosts energy;” 5) “[e]xercise promotes better sleep;” 6) “[e]xercise puts the spark back into your sex life;” and 7) “[e]xercise can be fun [and] social.”[18] Need we say more?

Further, that foggy feeling you get after a poor night’s sleep impacts your brain function.[19] Getting enough sleep is vital for “‘brain plasticity,’ or the brain’s ability to adapt to input.”[20] If you don’t sleep enough, you not only can’t process what you’ve learned during the day, but you also have more trouble remembering it in the future.[21] “Researchers also believe that sleep may promote the removal of waste products from brain cells – something that occurs less efficiently when the brain is awake.”[22]

So, how can you set yourself up for success? Get a good night’s sleep. Students, please sleep enough to “help stay focused, improve concentration, and improve academic performance.”[23] Failure to get a good night’s sleep can cause incommensurate reactions to a myriad of situations and particularly stressful situations. If you are debating between reading that last case and getting some rest, get some rest and email your professor.

TRIGGER WARNING: In our next blog post, we will be discussing the importance of a good diet. If you are struggling with an eating disorder, please refer to the following website: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-help/ and consider these following helplines:

ANAD Helpline:1 (888) 375-7767
Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm CT
National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline:1 (866) 662-1235
Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm ET
Diabulimia Helpline: 1 (425) 985-3635

If you have any questions or comments, then please feel free to contact us at skupferman@vermontlaw.edu or cschmidt@vermontlaw.edu.

[1] David Jaffe et al., “It is Okay to Not Be Okay”: The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being, 60 U. Louisville L. Rev. 439 (2022).

[2] Report and Recommendations of the NYSBA Task Force on Attorney Well-Being This is Us: From Striving Alone to Thriving Together, 70 (Oct. 2021).

[3] See generally Anne Brafford, Well-Being Toolkit for Layers & Legal Employers (2018).

[4] Study on Lawyer Impairment, American Bar Association (Jan. 18, 2019), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistance/research/colap_hazelden_lawyer_study/.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.

[7] Patrick Krill, The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys, J. of Addiction Med. 10, 46 – 52 (Jan./Feb. 2016).

[8] The ABA’s Mental Health & Wellness resource library contains materials ranging from how to take a real vacation to mental health first aid to coping with eating disorders and beyond.

[9] See ABA Model Rules on Professional Responsibility; Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct available at: https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/sites/default/files/documents/VermontRulesofProfessionalConduct.pdf. Note: every state has some permutation of competency definition of which lawyer wellness is integral.

[10] See Mandatory Continuing Legal Education, Vermont Judiciary, https://www.vermontjudiciary.org/attorneys/mandatory-continuing-legal-education (last visited July 11, 2024).

[11] Today’s Lawyers & Mental Health: Mental Awareness Month, Thomson Reuters (May 16, 2024), https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/todays-lawyers-and-mental-health/#:~:text=It%20goes%20without%20saying%20that,juggling%20multiple%20cases%20at%20once.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] See Mental Health Character & Fitness Questions for Bar Admission, Am. Bar Ass’n, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/diversity/disabilityrights/resources/character-and-fitness-mh/ (last visited July 11, 2024).

[15] See https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistnace/task_force_report/

[16] See also Law Deans Clearinghouse for Student Mental Health, The Ass’n of Am. Law Schools, https://www.aals.org/mental-health-clearinghouse/ (last visited July 11, 2024). In a 2021 survey, almost 70% of respondents (law students) indicated mental health issues. Id.

[17] See Understanding How Exercise Affects the Body, Nat’l Institutes of Health (May 14, 2024), https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/understanding-how-exercise-affects-body.

[18] Mayo Clinic Staff, Exercise: 7 Benefits of Regular Physical Activity, Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389 (last visited July 11, 2024).

[19] The Science of Sleep: Understanding What Happens When You Sleep, Johns Hopskins Medicine, https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/the-science-of-sleep-understanding-what-happens-when-you-sleep (last visited July 11, 2024).

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Sleep & Health, CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/sleep.htm#:~:text=Students%20should%20get%20the%20proper,poor%20mental%20health%2C%20and%20injuries (last visited July 11, 2024).

July 16, 2024 by hami3258

Jamie Abrams

Inclusive Socratic Teaching: Why Law Schools Need It and How to Achieve It

By: Jamie R. Abrams, Professor of Law & Director of Legal Rhetoric Program,
American University, Washington College of Law

As scholars and teachers working in professional identity formation, blog readers may be interested to check out my recent book, titled Inclusive Socratic Teaching: Why Law Schools Need It and How to Achieve It, published by the University of California Press. The book issues a call to action squarely centered in the Socratic classrooms that still dominate so much of legal education’s curricular core. The book’s premise is that existing legal education reforms, including ABA Standard 303(b) governing professional identity formation, are happening around the architectural and structural core of Socratic classrooms.

The book traces enduring scholarly critiques over the past fifty years of Socratic teaching’s professor-centered and power-centered approaches. It layers onto these critical perspectives the alarming wellness concerns facing modern law students and lawyers that scholars, such as the Holloran Center’s Co-Director Jerry Organ, have been documenting for years. With this body of literature outlined, the book ponders why we continue to innovate in legal education around the dominant Socratic classrooms. It notes how these traditional classrooms are often in tension with professional identity formation to the extent they put students in competition to be racked and stacked against each other, skewing students’ self-efficacy and creating a narrow band of skills and values rewarded in the classroom.

Notably, the book does not abandon the Socratic method, though, for reasons of pragmatism, economics, and institutional will. Rather, it seeks to build shared pedagogical values that catalyze these classrooms to align with other institutional reforms. The book therein proposes a set of concrete pedagogical values that can govern Socratic classrooms: student-centered, skills-centered, client-centered, and community-centered teaching techniques.

It then provides a roadmap of how to implement these shared pedagogical values. Simple techniques, like shifting from “what are the facts of the case?” and “what was the holding?” to an exploration of who hired a lawyer, why they hired a lawyer, and the skills and values deployed by that lawyer can transform the Socratic classroom to be more skills, student, client, and community focused. The book sketches out techniques, using existing student-teacher ratios and casebooks, to position students as professionals navigating a string of cases on behalf of a host of diverse clients in a range of communities. While Socratic classrooms might not be the primary site for cultivating professional identity formation, these pedagogical techniques sensitize students to professional skills and values in ways that align with deeper dives into professional identity formation happening in specialized classes, professional responsibility classes, experiential courses, simulations courses, and clinics. I warmly invite this community’s ongoing dialogue with these ideas. I hope this book offers a springboard into holistic institutional discussions about the pedagogical values that shape our institutions and the arc of student development from first year to graduation.

Please feel free to reach out to me at jamieabrams@wcl.american.edu if you have any questions or comments.

Jamie R. Abrams is Professor of Law and Director of the Legal Rhetoric Program at American University Washington College of Law. She has published scholarly articles about legal education pedagogy and won numerous awards for pedagogy innovations.

June 21, 2024 by hami3258

Sarah Beznoska

Lessons Learned from PIF Course Year One as a Career Services Advisor

By: Sarah Dylag Beznoska, Assistant Dean for Student and Career Services,
Cleveland State University College of Law

2023-2024 was the first year that Cleveland State University College of Law launched our one credit, required-for-graduation professional identity formation (PIF) course for all in-person first-year students. I was the primary instructor and, at the end of the year, it became clear to me that themes of resilience, growth mindset, resourcefulness, and curiosity had emerged from the experience.

Resilience, growth mindset, resourcefulness, and curiosity for the instructor, of course.

As a career advisor and having served in a wide variety of student, academic, and career services roles during the course of my career, I went into 2023-2024 with the assumption that teaching this course would be straightforward. Panel discussions about career paths, small group work about lawyering skills, and one-on-one coaching about values and goals were things I had done repeatedly while working with law students. It did not seem, in my mind, a huge stretch to bring that to the classroom and I thought myself to be something of an expert, ready to share what I knew.

To say that it did not go quite as pictured in my mind is an understatement. My 2023-2024 students spent the year teaching me how to create a more meaningful classroom experience for the next cohort, and for that I am grateful and also humbled.

A few things I learned, which might be obvious to seasoned instructors in the classroom, but which were new to me:

Be as clear as possible from the outset and stick to it!

Make your expectations clear from the start, both in how you open the class and create your community of learners and in the little things, such as how you outline the course on your syllabus or track student progress in the course.

My recollections of the syllabi when I was a law student were that the documents required me to figure out what the assignments were, by reading dense blocks of text in paragraph format. I remember highlighting the syllabi to figure out what I was supposed to be doing, and when.

I thought that the structure and syllabus I created was better than what I had experienced myself. Still, I learned that you can never be too clear and concise when it comes to setting forth expectations and requirements, and repeating them in a variety of ways so that all students in the classroom receive the information. This is a cohort of students who have grown accustomed to using tools like PowerSchool and Google Classroom, where they can always know exactly which assignments are due and when, and where they stand in terms of points/grades.

I want students to learn organizational and project management skills. At the same time, I should not disregard the importance of using the organizational and project management skills myself in presenting the material to them.

Limit the career services panel discussions and give students options

In my experience, traditional career services offerings are built on a model of panel discussions, where experienced attorneys share their own experience and advice, followed by student questions. For a generation of students who have grown up with all of that content available online and who frequently learn better by actively engaging in exercises or activities, these kinds of panels are sometimes painful and repetitive. Worse, even with the most carefully crafted panel, you’re likely leaving someone out – at least one of your students will look at the panel and think “I don’t see anyone like me.”

Some panel discussions are necessary and helpful. However, at a recent Holloran Center workshop, a colleague suggested that I also try giving students a menu of options for meeting certain requirements of the course. She suggested that autonomy has an impact on the student experience and there are a lot of ways to create at least some autonomy within a PIF course.

This makes a lot of sense. We know that students bring wide ranging goals and experiences to the classroom – that’s part of what we’re helping them to incorporate into their law school experience when we are doing PIF work! What one student finds meaningful, another finds unhelpful. Allowing students to tailor their learning to their personal circumstances not only aligns with PIF goals in general, but it also enables students to feel more engaged.

Therefore, try to be strategic about how and when you use a panel. There are a lot of other ways to get your experienced alumni and attorneys involved and to expose students to lawyers. Use alumni as facilitators for small group discussions and exercises, or for informational interview assignments. Create different ways for your students to learn the content, and be creative with student ideas. For example, is there something interesting happening on Instagram Live through one of the national law student networks that you could incorporate? Is there a student organization event that aligns with a course topic that could be helpful?

Be kind to yourself too.

I recently read Katie Arnold’s Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World, which has nothing to do with lawyering, the law, or PIF, and everything to do with life and living and going on through difficult challenges. She reminded me that what I try to teach my students is what I also need to know myself: “You are here, and by the simple fact of being here, in the middle of your life, you will make one beautiful mistake after another, a steady stream of failures, rising and falling and rising again – proof that you are human and alive, open to all possibilities, knowing and being known without knowing anything at all.”

Be kind to yourself, lean into the reasons why you started doing PIF work in the first place, re-assess and try again. With that mindset, I am certain that, if nothing else, year two of my course will be another adventure.

Please feel free to reach out to me at s.beznoska@csuohio.edu if you have any questions or comments.

Sarah Dylag Beznoska is the Assistant Dean for Student and Career Services at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.

June 13, 2024 by hami3258

Sara Berman

1L Success: Becoming a Lawyer, a Professional Identity Formation Workbook

By: Sara Berman, Professor of Lawyering Skills &
Director of the Academic Success Program, USC Gould School of Law

1L Success: Becoming a Lawyer, a Professional Identity Formation Workbook (West Academics, 2024) is an interactive workbook designed to infuse professional identity formation (PIF) content and an array of reflection opportunities for law students in a variety of settings including, but not limited to, orientations, ABA Standard 303(b) workshops, doctrinal courses (such as Professional Responsibility), skills classes, Academic Success Programs (ASP), and individual student counseling.

1L Success was intentionally created as a brief volume and written in straightforward language to promote accessibility. In schools with West Academic subscriptions, your students may access the electronic version for free with their West login.

If you are working with 1Ls –in a faculty or administrative position– or you’ve been tasked with programming on professional identity formation to satisfy ABA Standard 303(b), then this book is for you –well, for your students! The reflection exercises in the workbook will help students find strategies, tools, and meaning as they move along their success journey and begin developing their identity as future lawyers.

The book’s Foreword, written by the Holloran Center’s Co-Director Jerry Organ, gives additional perspectives on how this volume will be useful to today’s law students. It is with deep gratitude to Jerry, the Holloran Center, and everyone in legal education that I share information about this workbook. I hope that it will help us all in educating today’s and tomorrow’s lawyers.

Below is a chapter-by-chapter summary with ideas on where the content may fit into orientation, courses, workshops, and individual counseling of students. Because students can download the content for free, you can easily choose to use selected chapters or even selected reflections

Chapter 1 – Before Law School and Orientation – This brief content (7-pages) can help set a tone for discussion groups at Orientation. In particular, it directly hits and encourages reflection about the imposter syndrome that many people, especially first gen students, feel starting law school. It also helps students focus on their “why” and on the great value of being a lawyer –a why that will help throughout the entire professional journey.

Chapter 2 – Start on a Positive Foot: Your Path is not Predestined – These pages contain an array of reflections that will be useful to set a growth mindset and positive tone.

Chapter 3 – Become a Critical Reader – This content focuses on the importance of critical reading for law school success. It provides strategies and food-for-thought reflections that include focus and meaning in the readings.

Chapter 4 – Find Your Why – This content dives even deeper into encouraging and motivating students by helping them to step back and reflect on their own why. The reflections in this chapter provide tools for individual and group reflection exercises; teamwork and collaboration are consistently deemed important parts of law practice but are often not emphasized in law school.

Chapter 5 – Hard Work is the Most Important Part of Success – This content seeks to “normalize” hard work and self-driven work. It helps dispel myths that there is something wrong with students when law school learning doesn’t come easily.

Chapter 6 – Visualize Yourself as a Lawyer – This section is useful in discussion groups and individual reflection opportunities, empowering students by encouraging them to see themselves as lawyers. With this framing, many of the other goals of educating lawyers comes more easily and becomes more meaningful and tangible. (I frequently speak with students about “their future clients.” The entire perspective seems to change when they move beyond their student identity and begin to see themselves as lawyers.)

Chapter 7 – Enhance Focus, Reduce Distractions – This pairs well with student affairs, ASP workshops, and individual meetings to assist busy law students fighting distraction and promoting focus, a critical skill for effective lawyers.

Chapter 8 – Active Learning – This chapter can be used in Orientation and in mid-semester workshops as a springboard for discussion and reflections about the payoff of doing one’s own work and not relying solely on commercial study aids. It speaks to grit,work ethic, learning science, and self-driven learning –topics you may want to weave into orientation, courses, workshops, and student meetings.

Chapter 9 – Surround Yourself with Positive People – This is useful for Student Affairs and ASP and others working with first gen and other students who are struggling with finding a supportive community and tuning out overly competitive or negative peers. This chapter is also helpful for those who need assistance explaining the demands of law school to family, friends, and partners. There are sample dialogues and simulations that can be used as role-plays during orientation, workshops, and individual counseling.

Chapter 10 – Turn Panic into Power, Anxiety into Adrenaline – Useful for Student Affairs, ASP, and others who address law student anxiety throughout 1L and in workshops that prepare students for midterms and finals.

Chapter 11 – What is IRAC? – Useful at Orientation and in ASP, skills workshops, and individual meetings to demystify the recommended logical template for writing and thinking in law school. This content includes practice exams that test IRAC skills but are based on non-law hypos so that students can use them as learning opportunities (and opportunities to freely make mistakes!) at any point before or during 1L. Sample outlines and answers are also included at the end of the workbook, after the Glossary.

Chapter 12 – Daily Habits– Useful at Orientation and in professional identity formation workshops and individual meetings to help students become more intentional about incorporating professional perspectives into their daily habits and being more accountable to themselves and others for their actions.

Chapter 13 – Exams– Useful at Orientation and in ASP workshops and individual meetings to prepare law students for exams and help them see how different law school exams are from exams in their previous educational experiences. This helps enhance belonging in the sense that many first gen students and others who feel like they are “outsiders” think that some of their classmates have an edge.

Chapter 14 – Second Semester, Work on Improving from First Semester – Useful in spring or second semester workshops, classes, and individual meetings as a springboard for reflection on growth mindset and how to improve going forward.

Chapter 15 – Draft Your Law School Success Plan – This provides an adaptable tool that can be viewed as a living document to promote planning and reflection for continuous improvement throughout law school.

Chapter 16 – Thinking Ahead to After 1L – Useful for Career Services, Student Affairs, and others who are helping students to think about their professional goals and transferable skills.

Glossary – Useful for Orientation and throughout 1L as a springboard for exercises and reflection re: fluency of terminology. Knowing “the lingo” is critical for law school success and helps students socialize and acculturate to law school and the legal profession.

Please access the workbook here and feel free to reach out to Sara Berman at SBerman@law.usc.edu if you have any questions or comments.

Sara J. Berman is a professor of lawyering skills and the director of the Academic Success Program at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

June 5, 2024 by hami3258

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