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Professor Neil Hamilton teaches an ethics class.

Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership

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.

2026 marks the 20th Anniversary of the Holloran Center! We will host our first Annual Professional Identity Formation Conference and Awards Ceremony on April 25, 2026.

Learn more about the event here!

Get to know the Holloran Center

  • Get to Know the Holloran Center
  • Student Research and Service Positions
  • Review Changes to Standard 303
  • Explore Our Tools and Resources
  • See Our Research and Training

    • Get to Know the Holloran Center

    Holloran Center faculty 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 the mission of helping the next generation of lawyers form professional identities grounded in a deep commitment of service to others.

    About the Holloran Center

    Student Research and Service Positions

    The Holloran Center offers several student employment opportunities in research and service. Our program, which includes Tourek-Marvin Peer Mentors and Tourek-Marvin, Gherty, and Shea Scholars, is guided by the mission of fostering student leadership and encouraging continuous, lifelong professional growth.

    University of St. Thomas students are encouraged to apply or inquire more about available opportunities.

    Learn More And Apply

    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.

    About Standard 303

    Explore Our Tools and Resources

    See Our Research and Training

    The Holloran Center offers research and training in professional development formation.

    All Research and Training

    Get to Know the Holloran Center

    Holloran Center faculty 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 the mission of helping the next generation of lawyers form professional identities grounded in a deep commitment of service to others.

    About the Holloran Center

    Student Research and Service Positions

    The Holloran Center offers several student employment opportunities in research and service. Our program, which includes Tourek-Marvin Peer Mentors and Tourek-Marvin, Gherty, and Shea Scholars, is guided by the mission of fostering student leadership and encouraging continuous, lifelong professional growth.

    University of St. Thomas students are encouraged to apply or inquire more about available opportunities.

    Learn More And Apply

    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.

    About Standard 303

    Explore Our Tools and Resources

    See Our Research and Training

    The Holloran Center offers research and training in professional development formation.

    All Research and Training
    L to R: Jerry Organ, David Grenardo, Steve Tourek, and Neil Hamilton

    Holloran Center to Celebrate First Annual Conference on Professional Identity Formation in April 2026

    The Holloran Center is celebrating its 20th Anniversary with the launch of its first Annual Conference and Awards Dinner. This event will also be structured as a St. Thomas Law Journal Symposium.

    Throughout the day, our speakers will include leading experts in professional identity formation such as Tim and Daisy Floyd (Mercer), Benjamin Madison (Regent), Leah Teague (Baylor), our own Neil Hamilton, and many more.

    Learn More and Register

    Professional Identity Formation and Well-Being Resources

    Rule of Law Initiative

    Holloran Center faculty 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 the mission of helping the next generation of lawyers form professional identities grounded in a deep commitment of service to others.

    Professional Identity Implementation Blog

    An Old Truth for a New Era: Professional Identity Is Formed in Relationship

    by Erika N. Pont, Associate Director, Fundamentals of Lawyering Program; Coordinator of the Dean’s Fellow Program; Associate Professor of Fundamentals of Lawyering George Washington University Law School I’m writing this on the flight home from the first annual Holloran Center Conference & Awards Dinner. As I reflect on the weekend, I keep returning to something I’ve been learning since I first connected with the Holloran Center in 2019: formation happens in relationships. We often talk about professional identity formation as something that happens inside a person—reflection, judgment, values, purpose. Of course it does. But people are shaped by the people around them too. Mentors matter. Classmates matter. Faculty matter. Communities matter. Much of who we become is formed in conversation with other people. We talked about that frequently this weekend.  But more importantly, I experienced it first hand. In the formal sessions and in the in-between moments, people challenged and supported my ideas, sharpened my thinking, and offered kindness that meant more than they likely knew. More than that, I learned about people’s children, grandchildren, favorite music, travel plans, and beloved pets—all the ordinary details that make up a life. That kind of connection does not weaken serious work. It […]

    • Continuing Strong Employment Outcomes for the Class of 2025

      by Jerry Organ, Bakken Professor of Law and Holloran Center Co-Director I am writing to follow up on my employment outcomes blog for the class of 2024 with an analysis of the employment outcomes for the class of 2025. The ABA will be releasing data on employment outcomes for 2025 graduates of all ABA-accredited law schools in the coming days.  I went and gathered the data from those ABA-accredited law schools that have posted their employment outcomes on their website – comprising 185 of the 191 law schools outside of Puerto Rico.  (Data were not available for Belmont, Emory, North Carolina Central, Northern Illinois, Ohio Northern and Texas Southern as of April 21.) Increase in Percentage of Graduates in Full-Time, Long-Term Bar Passage Required Positions Despite Decrease in Number of Graduates in Such Positions Across these 185 ABA-accredited law schools outside of Puerto Rico, the number of graduates between 2024 and 2025 decreased by 2,266, from 37,662 to 34,928, but the number of graduates in full-time, long-term bar passage required jobs decreased by only 1,716 – from 30,934 to 29,218! As a result, these 185 law schools once again saw the percentage of graduates in full-time, long-term bar passage required […]

    • Free (to Seek Help) at Last: Reflections on Years of Advocating for Law Students and Reforming the Bar Admission Character & Fitness Process

      Janet Stearns, University of Miami School of Law David Jaffe, American University Washington College of Law[1] This month, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (“NCBE”) released the updated version of its Sample Character Report Application.[2] In doing so, NCBE significantly revised the character and fitness application. The application is currently used by about half of U.S. jurisdictions in screening applicants for bar admission. Until this revision, NCBE asked applicants a very problematic question in the screening process: Do you currently have any condition or impairment (including but not limited to, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, or a mental, emotional or nervous disorder or condition) that in any way affects your ability to practice law in a competent, ethical and professional manner? If an applicant responded yes and indicated that they received ongoing treatment or participated in a monitoring or support program, they were then asked to provide names/contact information of treating physicians, hospitals or treatment programs. Concerns about having to respond to these intrusive inquiries into personal medical information, not surprisingly, significantly impeded the willingness of law students to seek needed help and support.[3] NCBE is to be commended for its support of updates to the application. During a three-year process, […]

    • Marni Goldstein Caputo and Kathleen Luz to be honored with The Neil Hamilton Professional Identity Formation Distinguished Scholar Award

      By Felicia Bennett The Holloran Center is pleased to recognize Marni Goldstein Caputo and Kathleen Luz as the recipients of the Best Article Relating to Professional Identity Formation by a Senior Scholar award for their article, “Boundary-Setting and Choice-Making with No ‘Adult’ in the Room: Professional Identity Formation Opportunities for 1Ls in the Transactional Context,” published in the Virginia Law & Business Review in Summer 2025. In this article, Caputo and Luz make an important contribution to scholarship on professional identity formation by focusing on the transactional context, an area often overlooked in the first-year law school curriculum. The authors highlight that many law students will practice in transactional settings, where professional identity formation presents distinct challenges. Their article explains that transactional lawyers often work without the structure of a courtroom or the oversight of a judge. In that environment, lawyers must rely more heavily on their own judgment, values, and sense of professional responsibility. Caputo and Luz argue that this independent setting, with no “adult” in the room, makes professional identity formation especially important for students preparing for transactional practice. The article also offers a practical model for teaching these lessons in the 1L curriculum. Through transactional simulations, students […]

    • Civility Under Attack: Responding With… Civility

      Professor David Grenardo has published a timely new article examining the role of civility in today’s legal profession. Amid declining social cohesion, heightened political tensions, growing mental health strain, and a constant stream of negative news, uncivil behavior has become an increasingly visible challenge. In such an environment, it is easy to become discouraged and to question how to respond to attacks on human dignity and professional decorum. In this article, Professor Grenardo argues that the answer lies in a renewed commitment to civility itself, rather than resorting to escalation or retreat. He explores what incivility looks like in practice, engages with existing scholarship that critiques civility, and analyzes the tension between the First Amendment and efforts to uphold civility within the legal profession. The article offers a thoughtful framework for responding to incivility with principled, deliberate, and sustained civility. The abstract of the article follows below. Civility faces attacks on several fronts. First, civil conduct in society continues to erode. Incivility appears to be increasing in the workplace, and incivility also remains prevalent in the legal profession. Second, legal scholarship has set its sights on attacking civility, calling civility in the legal profession oppressive and racist. Third, the First […]

    See More Blog Posts
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    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.

    Learning Outcomes Database
    The word "competence" is circled on a board.

    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.

    Holloran Competency Milestones
    Pixel art of a laptop showing the scales of justice.

    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.

    Professional Development Database

    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.

    Roadmap for Employment

    Professional Formation Research

    See data on topics like professional identity formation, developing fiduciary mindsets, increasing student well-being, and more.

    See the Research

    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.

    Coach Training

    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.