Contents
1Introduction: The Four Foundational Professional Development and Formation (PD&F) Goals and Their Benefits for Students, Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
1.1The Benefits of a More Effective Curriculum to Foster PD&F Goal 1: Each Student’s Ownership of Continuous Professional Development toward Excellence at the Competencies That Clients, Legal Employers, and the Legal System Need
1.2The Benefits of a More Effective Curriculum to Foster PD&F Goal 2: Each Student’s Deep Responsibility and Service Orientation to Others, Especially the Client
1.3The Benefits of a More Effective Curriculum to Foster PD&F Goal 3: Each Student’s Client-Centered Problem-Solving Approach and Good Independent Professional Judgment That Ground Each Student’s Responsibility and Service to the Client
1.4The Benefits of a More Effective Curriculum to Foster PD&F Goal 4: Student Well-Being Practices
Appendix AA Summary of the Empirical Studies That Define the Foundational Competencies That Clients and Legal Employers Need
2A Framework for Purposefulness to Realize the Four Professional Development and Formation Goals
2.2How to Think – and Not Think – About Supporting Professional Identity Formation
2.2.1Think First and Foremost of the Student’s Socialization and Formation Experiences: What Law Faculty Do Is Important, but Only One of Many Means to the End
2.2.2Think about Taking Responsibility and Asserting Leadership: What Law Schools Can Do Is Not Limited to “Teaching” by the Faculty
2.2.3Think about Curating and Coaching: Teaching Is Not Limited to the Transmission of Expert Knowledge
2.2.4Think Enterprise Wide: Professional Identity Formation Support Already Occurs throughout the Law School and Can Serve – Rather Than Detract from – Established Goals and Priorities
2.3How to Advance the Law School’s Own Professional Development
3Competency-Based Education as Another Step in Purposefulness – Lessons Learned from Medical Education’s Fifteen Years of Additional Experience with Professional Development and Formation Goals
4Ten Principles to Inform Curriculum Development
4.2Principle 2 Sequenced Progressions of Curriculum and Assessment Modules Are Powerful Tools
4.4Principle 4 Reflection and Self-Assessment Are Powerful Tools
4.5Principle 5 Mentoring and Coaching Are Powerful Tools to Be Combined
4.6Principle 6 Major Transitions Are Pivotal to Development – and Major Opportunities for Support
4.7Principle 7 Connect Professional Development and Formation to the Student Personally
4.8Principle 8 Think Very Differently about Assessment on PD&F Goals
4.9Principle 9 Student Portfolios Can Help Students Progress
4.10Principle 10 Program Assessment on PD&F Goals Becomes Clear and Manageable if Principles 1 through 9 Are Heeded and Implemented
Appendix CFurther Research Needed on the Major Transitions for Law Students
Appendix DMilestone Model on Reflection and Reflection Writing Assignment Grading Template
5Going Where Each Major Stakeholder Is and Building Bridges among Them in Order to Realize the Four Professional Development and Formation Goals
5.1Assess Local Conditions with Respect to the Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
5.3Build a Learning Community of Faculty and Staff Interested in Any of the Four PD&F Goals
5.4Always “Go Where They Are” with Respect to Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
5.5Repeatedly Emphasize the Value and Importance of “Curating”
5.6Recognize the Scope of the Challenge in Fostering a Shared Understanding among Faculty, Staff, and Administrators about the Stages of Student Development on Competencies beyond Those Most Familiar to Law Schools. Focus on Gradual Small Steps Tailored to Local Conditions
5.7Emphasize That There Are Many Successful Examples That Can Be Followed or Adapted to Foster Student Growth toward Later Stages of the Four PD&F Goals – and Draw from Them
5.7.1A Milestone Model on the Goal/Learning Outcome That Is of Most Interest Given Local Conditions
5.7.3A Requirement That Each Student Create and Implement a Written Professional Development Plan with Coaching Feedback (the ROADMAP Curriculum)
5.7.4A 1L Constitutional Law Curriculum That Also Fosters Student Professional Development and Formation
5.7.6A PD&F Curriculum Development Resource to Be Published in 2022
5.8Go Where the Students Are to Build a Bridge from Their Personal Goals to the Competencies That Clients, Legal Employers, and the Profession Need
5.9Go Where the Legal Employers, Clients, and Profession Are and Build a Bridge Demonstrating That the Law School’s Graduates Are at a Later Stage of Development on the Competencies Employers, Clients, and the Profession Need
Appendix ECoaching Guide for a Meeting on Each 1L Student’s ROADMAP
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