The start of a new calendar year brings a new class of law students into The John Marshall Law School. Today marks the beginning on a new journey for these future lawyers as they get their first glimpse at what it takes to become a lawyer.
All this week, these 1Ls will partake in a number of different programs for their law school orientation, including one that highlights the role that professionalism, ethics, and civility play in the legal profession that is planned by our team at the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
On January 14th, 2016, John Marshall students will promise to maintain a sense of professionalism in law school, on the job, and in everyday life when taking the Pledge of Professionalism, administered this time around by U.S. District Judge and Commissioner Hon. Sharon Coleman.
Following the pledge, the new law students will discuss a number of hypothetical scenarios that incorporate challenging professionalism issues and ethical dilemmas that lawyers may face when practicing law later on down the road. These discussions will be facilitated by local attorneys in Chicago, many of whom have facilitated previous law school orientation discussion sessions. Each attorney is awarded professional responsibility CLE credit upon completing the facilitated session.
The goal of this professionalism program is to promote civility within the culture of the profession from the get-go, as soon as law students set foot on campus, in turn making professionalism an integral part of the means in which lawyers practice.
Currently, all nine of Illinois’s law schools participate in the Commission’s fall and winter professionalism orientation programs. John Marshall’s winter programming runs from 6-7:30pm with a reception to follow.