The Formation of Professional Identity

Patrick Emery Longan is William Augustus Bootle Chair in Ethics and Professionalism in the Practice of Law at the Mercer University School of Law and Director of the Mercer Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism. Professor Longan is a graduate of Washington University, the University of Sussex, and the University of Chicago Law School. Professor Longan’s work relating to professionalism and professional identity has been recognized by his receipt of the 2005 National Award for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching Professionalism and by the Mercer Law School’s receipt of the 2014 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award. Daisy Hurst Floyd is University Professor of Law and Ethical Formation at Mercer University School of Law, where she served as Dean from 2004 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2017. Her teaching and research interests include Ethics, Legal Education, Civil Procedure, and Evidence. She has a particular interest in the ways in which higher education shapes students’ ethical development and in cross-disciplinary collaborations. Professor Floyd was named a Carnegie Scholar by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2001 in support of her research on the development of professional identity among American law students. She received her BA and MA from Emory University and her JD from the University of Georgia School of Law. Timothy W. Floyd is Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and Director of Experiential Education at Mercer University School of Law. In addition to supervising clinical and externship programs, he has taught courses in legal ethics, criminal law, civil procedure, legal skills, law and religion, and human rights. He has published two books and is the author of numerous articles in the area of legal ethics, law and religion, criminal law, and the death penalty. While teaching at several law schools in his career, he has represented persons facing the death penalty and worked to insure access to justice for all in civil cases. He received his BA and MA from Emory University and his JD from the University of Georgia.

1. Introduction and Overview; 2. Motivation and Professional Identity; 3. Competence as a Professional Virtue; 4. Fidelity to the Client as a Professional Virtue; 5. Fidelity to the Law as a Professional Virtue; 6. Public Spiritedness as a Professional Virtue; 7. Civility as a Professional Virtue; 8. Practical Wisdom as a Professional Virtue; 9. Professional Identity and the Future of the Legal Profession