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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

    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 […]

    • Katya Cronin to be honored with the Neil Hamilton Professional Identity Formation Emerging Scholar Award

      By Felicia Bennett The Holloran Center is pleased to recognize Katya Cronin, Associate Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School, as the recipient of the Neil Hamilton Professional Identity Formation Emerging Scholar Award. Professor Cronin is honored for her article, “Value-Centered Lawyering: Reshaping the Law School Curriculum to Promote Well-Being, Quality Client Representation, and a Thriving Legal Field” (published 2024), which offers a thoughtful and timely contribution to the growing body of scholarship on professional identity formation. In her work, Professor Cronin examines a central challenge within legal education and the profession: the disconnect that often develops between lawyers’ personal values and the work they are asked to perform. She argues that traditional law school messaging can unintentionally encourage students to set aside their own beliefs and measure success primarily through external markers such as prestige and financial reward. Over time, this misalignment can lead to burnout and diminished wellbeing – an issue that affects individual lawyers as well as the quality of client representation and the health of the profession as a whole. As a response, Professor Cronin proposes a shift toward “value-centered lawyering,” an approach that integrates regular self-reflection and intentional engagement with personal values […]

    •  Holloran Center Professional Identity Formation Outstanding Blog Award: “Silent Struggle”

      by Felicia Bennett The Holloran Center is pleased to recognize Stephanie Kupferman (Vermont Law) and Colette Schmidt (Paul Frank + Collins, formerly Vermont Law) as recipients of the Holloran Center Professional Identity Formation Outstanding Blog Award for their blog post, “Silent Struggle: Navigating Eating Disorders in the Legal Profession.” Their work shines a light on a frequently overlooked dimension of lawyer wellbeing and addresses the personal challenges that can shape professional identity, performance, and longevity in the legal field. Kupferman and Schmidt’s blog post reflects the Holloran Center’s commitment to highlighting the importance of wellbeing in professional identity formation and aligns with the profession’s growing recognition that effective lawyering is strengthened by self-care and personal resilience. By examining the hidden pressures within legal culture and encouraging greater awareness, compassion, and institutional support, their post reinforces the importance of forming lawyers who are not only skilled and ethical, but also supported as whole persons. This focus resonates strongly with the Center’s mission to foster intentional, values-based development of law students and lawyers alike. Read the award-winning post: https://blogs.stthomas.edu/holloran-center/silent-struggle-navigating-eating-disorders-in-the-legal-profession/  

    • Holloran Center Excellence in Teaching Award to be Presented to Aric Short for Difficult Conversations Class

      By Felicia Bennett On April 25, 2026, at the First Annual Holloran Center Conference and Law Journal Symposium, Professional Identity Formation – Looking Back and Looking Ahead, Aric Short will receive the Holloran Center Professional Identity Formation Excellence in Teaching Award for his class exercise, Navigating and Excelling in Difficult Conversations. A professor of law and Director of the Professional Identity & Leadership Development Program at Texas A&M University School of Law, Professor Short has developed this learning experience within his 1L Professional Identity Formation course that aims to equip law students with an essential, and often overlooked, professional skill: the ability to engage thoughtfully and constructively across disagreement. In his class activity, Short highlights how lawyers routinely navigate emotionally charged disputes, conflicting values, and polarized viewpoints in their work with clients, colleagues, courts, and communities. Through guided reflection, structured dialogue exercises, and small-group discussion, students learn to shift from reacting defensively to responding with curiosity and respect. The activity emphasizes practices such as empathetic listening, asking questions of understanding rather than persuasion, and recognizing how emotions and identity shape the lenses through which we communicate. By creating space for students to share experiences, examine how conflict affects their thinking, […]

    • Holloran Center Signature Program Award to be Presented to GW Law for their First Year PIF Experience

      By Felicia Bennett On April 25, 2026, at the First Annual Holloran Center Conference and Law Journal Symposium, the George Washington University Law School will be honored with the Holloran Center Professional Identity Formation Signature Program Award for their three-part 1L professional formation experience. The upcoming conference will convene scholars, educators, and practitioners committed to advancing professional identity formation in legal education—and GW Law’s integrated first-year model has been selected as a leading example of that work in action. The award recognizes GW Law’s comprehensive 1L professional identity formation programming, which is composed of three complementary initiatives: Fundamentals of Lawyering: A required two-semester course which introduces legal analysis and writing, communication and interpersonal skills, and professionalism through the lens of PIF and using experiential learning opportunities. The Inns of Court Program: Small, structured community groups that support connection, critical skills development, and individualized career exploration. Foundations of Practice: A voluntary (and heavily attended) program that includes workshops, one-on-one conferences with different support areas, and informational interviews. Together, these programs embed professional identity formation across the entire first year—placing students “in role” as client-centered advocates, surrounding them with faculty and practitioner mentors, and guiding them through structured reflection on values, professionalism, […]

    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.