rule of law – Holloran Center Professional Identity Implementation Blog

Holloran Center Professional Identity Implementation Blog

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rule of law

Aric Short, Brent Godfrey, Tania Luma

Leadership, Character, and Professional Identity: New Scholarship in the Journal of Legal Education, Volume 74, Number 1: Part II

By Felicia Bennett, Holloran Center Coordinator

This is the second of two posts highlighting the scholarship found in Volume 74, No. 1 of the Journal of Legal Education.

As mentioned in our first article roundup, this issue is replete with relevant, practical, and thoughtful material on leadership and professional formation.

Today’s post covers the themes of legal education during times of institutional change and generative AI and professional formation. We believe these articles will be particularly useful in developing a thoughtful response to the unique technological and sociopolitical challenges that the legal profession is currently facing.

Below you will find article summaries with links to the scholarship and suggested, related reading on the Holloran Center Blog.

Lawyer Formation in Times of Institutional and Social Change

Tania Luma, “Obeying in Advance Will Not Save You: How Adaptive Leadership Can Help Legal Education Stay Mission Driven in Times of Authoritarianism and Fear,” Journal of Legal Education, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Summer 2026).

This article identifies current challenges to democratic structures, especially in legal education, and dives into principles of leadership that can help institutions resist “mission drift” and remain committed to core values.

Brent Godfrey, “What Do We Do at the End of a World?: Cultivating Emergent Leadership in a Time of Collapse,” Journal of Legal Education, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Summer 2026).

This article challenges current notions of leadership and presents ideas on how leadership, legal education, and lawyering might be approached in a world experiencing ecological, economic, and social change.

Professional Identity in a GenAI World

Aric K. Short, “Who’s the Lawyer Now? Professional Identity in a GenAI World,” Journal of Legal Education, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Summer 2026).

This article focuses on three central questions: the relationship between GenAI and the development of a professional identity; the examination of practical judgment as an irreplaceable human skill; and the impacts of GenAI related time-savings on the legal profession.

We encourage readers interested in these questions to explore the full issue of the Journal of Legal Education and to continue the conversation about how legal education can help future lawyers develop the capacities necessary to serve clients, the profession, and society well.

September 28, 2026 by
Eduardo Capulong, Jerome Organ

Holloran Center Rule of Law Materials Now Available

The Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions is pleased to share new Rule of Law materials developed by the Holloran Center Rule of Law Working Group and recently published by West Academic. The Working Group is a joint enterprise of the Holloran Center and the “‘Pluralizing’ Legal Professional Identity: Democracy, Equity, Justice, and the Law School Curriculum” project led by Eduardo Capulong and funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

These Rule of Law materials are grounded in the recognition that professional identity formation must engage law students in understanding the distinctive responsibility of lawyers, as public citizens and officers of the court, to support the rule of law. The materials include a definition of the rule of law in the context of American constitutional democracy, supplemental descriptions of foundational principles, a rule of law learning outcome, and a milestone for assessing progress on that learning outcome.

The Holloran Center has also made available a growing collection of rule of law resources, including links to court-based materials, bar association initiatives, law library research guides, educational resources, books, and articles. Together, these materials are intended to support law schools, faculty, and students as they deepen their understanding of the rule of law and the role lawyers play in sustaining justice, accountability, and the common good.

You can access Rule of Law materials and research on our website. This page will be regularly updated.

August 18, 2026 by
Hank Shea

“Avoiding the Slippery Slope”: Interview with Holloran Fellow Hank Shea

We are pleased to share this interview with Holloran Center Fellow Hank Shea. This was originally published by Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession.

“I started to ask, How could I still do my job but achieve justice outside the box? During plea negotiations, I started encouraging defendants to pay restitution immediately, not when the court orders it. In cases of public corruption and environmental crimes where the whole community is being harmed, I said, ‘If you really want to do the right thing, do something to restore and heal the entire community.'”

You can read the interview here.

Hank Shea is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney. He is a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and is a Fellow at the Holloran Center and the Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing.

June 23, 2026 by