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Lawyer, Form Thyself: Professional Identity Formation Strategies In Legal Education, Professional Responsibility, And Experiential Courses, Susan S. Daicoff Dec 2014

Lawyer, Form Thyself: Professional Identity Formation Strategies In Legal Education, Professional Responsibility, And Experiential Courses, Susan S. Daicoff

Susan Daicoff

Professional identity formation as a learning objective in law school may appear to be nontraditional and perhaps even innovative. While perhaps not a new concept, it is not typically an explicit goal of legal education. Empirical data finds that law school has demonstrable effects upon law students’ professional development; it also finds that certain nontraditional skills and competencies (or “soft skills”) make lawyers most effective. This article argues for explicit planning for and inclusion of professional identity development, including training in these nontraditional skills, in legal education. Professional identity encompasses one’s values, preferences, passions, intrinsic satisfactions, emotional intelligence, as well …


Stalking The Walking Wounded: An Empirical Study Of Lawyer Distress, Work Satisfaction, And Decisionmaking Preferences, Susan Daicoff Feb 2008

Stalking The Walking Wounded: An Empirical Study Of Lawyer Distress, Work Satisfaction, And Decisionmaking Preferences, Susan Daicoff

Susan Daicoff

Abstract: Attorney distress is an empirically-documented phenomenon. Depression and alcoholism, for example, occur among attorneys at about twice the rate found in the general population. Empirical research also suggests that certain personality attributes and decisionmaking preferences distinguish attorneys from the general population. Previous research had investigated the relationship of lawyer dissatisfaction to certain personality attributes and decisionmaking preferences, as well as the relationship of law student distress to values. Focusing on practicing lawyers, this empirical study investigated the relationship between attorney distress, work dissatisfaction, and two decisionmaking preferences. This study found no relationship between the two decisionmaking preferences and attorney …