Document Type
Essay
Publication Title
The Second Draft
Publication Date
2023
Volume
36(3)
Abstract
(Excerpt)
As a legal skills professor who works primarily with first-year law students, I often engage in academic and career planning discussions. In this context, I developed a method designed to help students strategically shape their JD careers. This approach encourages students to think intentionally about their goals and identify opportunities for career exploration throughout their time in law school. This method also allows students to discern key characteristics of legal careers that ultimately will bring them the most job satisfaction in the future. The activity can be introduced in a legal skills classroom, or used in one-on-one academic and career advising sessions.
Academic and career advising discussions have long been integral to a law professor’s mentoring responsibilities. However, the significance of advising our students has grown even more pronounced since the American Bar Association introduced Standard 303(b) in February 2022. This Standard requires law schools to provide “substantial opportunities to students for . . . the development of a professional identity.” Interpretation 303-5 clarifies that professional identity development “should involve an intentional exploration of the values, guiding principles, and well-being practices considered foundational to successful legal practice.” Interpretation 303-5 also emphasizes that developing a professional identity “requires reflection and growth over time,” and thus should be integrated throughout the entire JD education, “in a variety of courses and co-curricular and professional development activities.” I hope you and your students find this method useful as a gateway to meaningful conversations, and as a tool for encouraging your students to approach law school as connoisseurs of experiences.
Comments
Available at: https://www.lwionline.org/article/connoisseur-experiences-academic-career-planning-jd-students
This essay was first printed in The Second Draft and is reprinted with its permission.