PreLaw Magazine Names Regent Ethical Formation Training Most Innovative

Regent University School of Law was identified in the Back to School 2017 issue of PreLaw Magazine's as one of 20 Most Innovative Law Schools, defined as "schools that are on the cutting edge when it comes to preparing students for the future."

Pages 32-33 of the PreLaw Magazine article read:

Through Regent Law's Integrated Lawyer Training, students participate in a number of opportunities designed to enhance their legal education through hands-on training and ethical formation. 

Center for Ethical Formation & Legal Education Reform directors and Co-Founders Natt Gantt and Ben Madison were pleased to see ethical formation identified as a factor in Regent Law's ranking.  "We at Regent are thankful for this recognition," said Gantt. "We look forward to continuing to be innovative in improving our efforts in cultivating law students' professional identity development and generally improving legal education."

Founded in November 2012, the Center for Ethical Formation & Legal Education Reform (CEFLER) coordinates the programs and resources Regent Law has committed to developing students’ professional identity. It accentuates Regent Law’s expertise in providing practical training that develops in students the practical judgment important to the practice of law. In 2017, CEFLER was nominated for the ABA's E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award.

Here are just a few ways that CEFLER has sought to bring legal education reform and ethical formation to the forefront:

• 45% of the Regent Law student body participates in a mentoring program (a huge increase from 9% when the program first began).
• Almost 500 mentors (consisting of attorneys and judges from across the country) have participated in CEFLER's mentoring program since the program began.
• Since 2014, more than 200 Regent Law students have elected to take a 1-credit Legal Workplace Skills course and 1-credit Technological Competence in Law, both of which emphasizes practical training.
• More than 25 Regent Law courses now include integration of ethical formation into the course through class discussions, role-playing, direct teaching on professionalism, or class assignments.
• More than a dozen pieces of scholarship have been written by Regent Law faculty on the importance of professional development and ethical formation, including a chapter written by Gantt and Madison: "Teaching Knowledge, Skills, and Values of Professional Identity Formation" in Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World (Deborah Maranville, et al., eds., Lexis 2015).

Read the entire article in PreLaw Magazine's Back to School 2017 issue > 

Learn more about Regent Law's Center for Ethical Formation and Legal Education Reform >