Colloquium on The Role of Legal Education in Student Professional Identity Formation

Ben Madison, Associate Dean of Instructional &
Curricular Affairs; Professor; and CEFLER Co-Founder

On March 29, CEFLER Co-Founder and Regent Law Associate Dean Ben Madison presented "The Role of Legal Education in Student Professional Identity Formation" as part of the Regent Law Colloquium Series.

Since two landmark reports on legal education in 2007, many law schools have recognized the need to focus on their students' character and professional identity formation, not just their development in cognitive and practical skills.

Dean Madison discussed research on how law schools can best enhance students' professional formation, judgment, and decision-making skills, as well as specific techniques that law schools are implementing to promote such student formation.

Next year, Regent Law School will offer a new course, “Foundations of Practice,” for incoming first-year law students.  This course will discuss:

1. The nature of the legal profession and the many roles of a lawyer;
2. how students can develop an ethical compass that will guide them in law practice; and 
3. how students can discern their gifts and then, with the help of a faculty coach, find areas of law that will match their gifts.

Learn more about the Regent Law Colloquium Series >