Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion.

Simon Sinek

As you already know, law school can be an overwhelming experience. It challenges not only the way you think, but also the very essence of who you are and what you stand for. It takes the typical law student at least one semester, if not the whole first year, to adjust to the daily pressure of law school. Given that, youmight be wondering why you need to focus on building your “professional identity,” especially now when you are busy being a law student. The reality is thatmany law schools do not place an emphasis on building a professional identity, leaving law students to figure out who they want to be as a professional only after they graduate and enter law practice. The result: unfulfilled, unhappy, and, in some instances, unethical lawyers.

INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FORMATION

The Third Apprenticeship

The Carnegie Report (referenced in Chapter 5) is one of a series of comparative studies examining how different professions educate students and prepare them to enter the profession. The report identified three apprenticeships necessary to legal education: the cognitive apprenticeship, the apprenticeship of practice, and the apprenticeship of identity and purpose. The concept of professional identity formation is rooted in this third apprenticeship, which is often overlooked in legal education.

The Carnegie Report suggested that:

Professor Neil Hamilton defines professional identity formation as involving “a change from thinking like a student (where he or she learns and applies routine techniques to solve well-structured problems) toward acceptance and internalization of responsibility to others (particularly the person served) and for the student's own pro-active development toward excellence as a practitioner at all of the competencies of the profession.”