Straight From the Students: The Impact of Experiential Learning on Student Professional Identity Formation

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Session Type: Lightning Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Waterview D

Floor: Lobby Level

Legal education has fully entered a new era of recognizing the importance of professional identity formation (PIF). Although law schools now have programs in place to support PIF across curricular and extracurricular programming, we do not have much evidence about the impact of law school experiences on the process of socialization from student to lawyer. This session will present data collected from graduating law students about the impact of experiential learning and other school experiences on student professional identity formation. This presentation will focus on the reported impact of externships, clinics, and other legal work outside the law school. As a group, participants will discuss the impact of this research on clinical legal education and how this data can inform both clinical teaching and the role and status of clinical teachers.