The Holloran Center's mission is to provide innovative interdisciplinary research, curriculum development, and programs focusing holistically on the formation of both law students and practicing professionals into ethical leaders in their communities.
The Center is at the forefront of a growing national movement focused on greater intentionality in the professional formation of law students. The Standard 303(b) and (c) accreditation changes approved by the ABA House of Delegates on February 14, 2022, are a major step forward for the national social movement.
Our goal is to help every law school take gradual and effective steps to foster each student's growth to develop a professional identity.
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Law Student Well-Being Updates
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Get to Know the Holloran Center
Holloran Center professors and fellows provide national leadership on empirical research to assess which pedagogies are most effective to help students with formation of an ethical professional identity.
Since its founding in 2006, the Holloran Center has focused on this mission of helping the next generation of lawyers form professional identities grounded in a deep commitment of service to others.
Donations
Gifts to the Holloran Center should be made out to the below address:
Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions
Mail MSL 400
1000 La Salle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Please reach out to Felicia Hamilton, Holloran Center Coordinator, with any questions.
Review Changes to Standard 303
The Standard 303(b) and (c) accreditation changes approved by the ABA House of Delegates on February 14, 2022, are a major step forward for the national social movement.
Explore Our Tools and Resources
See Our Research and Training
The Holloran Center offers research and training in professional development formation.
Roadmap for Employment
Coach Training
Professional Formation Research
Get to Know the Holloran Center
Holloran Center professors and fellows provide national leadership on empirical research to assess which pedagogies are most effective to help students with formation of an ethical professional identity.
Since its founding in 2006, the Holloran Center has focused on this mission of helping the next generation of lawyers form professional identities grounded in a deep commitment of service to others.
Donations
Gifts to the Holloran Center should be made out to the below address:
Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions
Mail MSL 400
1000 La Salle Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Please reach out to Felicia Hamilton, Holloran Center Coordinator, with any questions.
Review Changes to Standard 303
The Standard 303(b) and (c) accreditation changes approved by the ABA House of Delegates on February 14, 2022, are a major step forward for the national social movement.
Explore Our Tools and Resources
See Our Research and Training
The Holloran Center offers research and training in professional development formation.
Roadmap for Employment
Coach Training
Professional Formation Research
A lifetime of service and leadership
Remembering Tom Holloran (1929-2024)
“The School of Law that we know today would not exist without Tom Holloran,” said University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer. “His stature in the Twin Cities community gave it instant credibility, and his dedication to cultivating meaningful relationships shaped its culture. Tom was a remarkably effective and beloved teacher because he taught the same way he lived: with unmistakable authenticity and integrity. The model of leadership he offered was a great gift to the world.”
Celebrate Tom Holloran's life and contributions
Funeral Mass for Tom Holloran
A funeral mass will be celebrated at the Basilica of St. Mary on Saturday, May 18, 2024. There will be a visitation from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., followed by the funeral from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lunch will be hosted starting at 12:30 p.m.
Please see more information on the Basilica website.
Holloran Center Receives Major Gift to Support Professional Formation Among Law Students
The Holloran Center is grateful to have received a major gift from Jake Marvin, former CEO of Marvin Companies, to establish the Steve Tourek and Jake Marvin Scholars Endowment. The fund will be used to engage students in interdisciplinary research and professional identity formation endeavors.
Professional Identity Implementation Blog
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Law School Transfer Data and Professional Identity Formation
By: Jerry Organ, Bakken Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, University of St. Thomas School of Law This blog posting updates my blog postings over the last several years regarding what we know about the transfer market, for example 2022, 2021 and 2020. With the ABA’s posting of the 2023 Standard 509 Reports, we now have a decade of more detailed transfer data from which to glean insights about the transfer market among law schools, which has been in decline for most of the last decade. This posting also includes a new section on transfer “feeder schools” and some reflections on whether and how law schools might be providing opportunities for professional identity formation for their transfer students. Numbers of Transfers and Percentage of Transfers Continue to Decline to the Lowest Levels in the Last Decade As shown in Table 1 below, the number of transfer students received by law schools in 2023 decreased for the third consecutive year to 1162, the smallest number of transfers in the last decade. For the last several years, the transfer market has been shrinking, having declined from 5.5% in 2014, to 4.7% in 2016, to […]
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Integrating Our Personal Identities With Our Professional Identity
By Nazeefa Nezami, University of St. Thomas School of Law 1L Reflecting on the recent Iftar dinner at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, I find myself deeply moved by the powerful impact of the speakers’ words. Hosted by the Muslim Law Student Association, the dinner was a beautiful event where school administration, faculty, staff, alumni, students, and members of the community gathered together to celebrate iftar, enjoy a meal, and engage in meaningful conversation. It was a gathering of diverse voices, each eloquently highlighting the profound significance of Islamic identity and its influence on our paths as legal professionals and law students. For those unfamiliar, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn until sunset, abstaining from all food and drink. Iftar is the meal eaten after sunset to break the fast, often starting with dates and water followed by a larger meal. As law students, navigating Ramadan can present unique challenges, but events like this dinner serve as a powerful reminder of the values our faith instills in us and how it shapes us as […]
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A Student’s Reflection on Professional Identity Formation
By: Alena Stankaitis, University of St. Thomas School of Law St. Thomas Law has done an especially incredible job at recognizing that professional identity formation is not a one-size-fits-all program. In particular, the school has integrated an intersectional approach to professional identity formation into our curriculum. As a neurodivergent, queer kid with dreams of becoming an attorney, I didn’t see any lawyers that looked like me in TV shows, movies, or books. Additionally, I’m a first-generation law student from a state other than Minnesota. Altogether, I felt like putting any effort towards substantively developing my professional identity was going to be futile, especially amid the rigors of law school coursework. St. Thomas Law and the Holloran Center helped break down these barriers. First, we have time to recenter and reflect. Utilizing its robust connections to the Minnesota legal community, St. Thomas invests significant resources into our curriculum outside of our doctrinal courses. Programs such as first-year Roadmap Coaching and upper-level Mentor Externship classes afford us the opportunity to reconnect with our individual motivations for pursuing law school. Moreover, these initiatives connect us with like-minded professionals, allowing us to see our identities reflected within the legal field. Second, St. Thomas Law invests […]
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A Student’s Reflection on Professional Identity Formation
By: Jordan Bracewell, Mercer Law School When I entered law school, my goal was to learn as much as I could so that I would make a great attorney. What I had in mind was learning the sort of knowledge gained from a textbook or by perfecting an oral argument, but being an attorney requires more. Law school has given me the tools to cultivate the intentional professional identity necessary to become a great attorney. Mercer Law encouraged me to reflect on and form my professional identity starting 1L year with a required three-hour course, The Legal Profession. While cultivating a professional identity can include a constellation of virtues, Mercer emphasizes six necessary professional virtues: competence, fidelity to the client, fidelity to the law, public spiritedness, civility, and practical wisdom. The Legal Profession helps first-year law students learn the six virtues through various reading assignments, including The Formation of Professional Identity and Bryan Stephenson’s Just Mercy, listening to presentations on the virtues, participating in group discussions and exercises, and meeting practicing attorneys and judges. Class exercises were particularly beneficial because they gave me an opportunity to be placed in hypothetical scenarios and see the importance of each virtue while recognizing […]
Learning Outcomes Database
This database contains all of the learning outcomes available on law school webpages. We have identified those law schools with “basic” learning outcomes as well as schools with more robust learning outcomes than required by the language of Standard 302.
Holloran Competency Milestones
The Holloran Center Milestones are stage-development rubrics that describe the stages of development associated with each learning outcome. The Milestones for each learning outcome were developed by national working groups of faculty and staff from different law schools. A few were also developed internally at the Center.
Professional Development Database
This database identifies all the law schools with required first-year courses or programs focused on professional formation categorized by type of course or program. It also includes a searchable set of syllabi from those courses or programs when available.
Research and Training
Roadmap for Employment
Professor Neil Hamilton has developed and published a groundbreaking template for law students to use during all three years of law school in order to be fully prepared to find meaningful employment upon graduation.
Professional Formation Research
See data on topics like professional identity formation, developing fiduciary mindsets, increasing student well-being, and more.
Coach Training
One-on-one coaching is the most effective curriculum to foster a student's growth toward later stages of development on both legal education's foundational learning outcomes and the student's post-graduation goals.
The Thomas Holloran Legacy
The Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions is honored to have Thomas Holloran (1929-2024) as our inspiration and namesake. Holloran, who was a lawyer, a CEO, and a teacher, among other things, exemplified a unique model of servant leadership that combined excellence in business with a talent for mentoring