Professional Formation with Emerging Adult Law Students in the 21-29 Age Group: Engaging Students to Take Ownership of Their Own Professional Development toward Both Excellence and Meaningful Employment

Students, legal educators, and employers, as well as the profession itself, face a future of continuing exponential growth of knowledge and rapidly changing markets, and the student who takes the initiative with lifelong self-directed learning skills will be best able to realize self-sufficiency needed to serve others well in meaningful employment. There is overwhelming agreement among researchers, managers, and policymakers on the need for each worker in rapidly changing markets to take ownership of career-long continuous development of knowledge and skills. It is widely accepted that self-directed learning promotes adult learning success in both academic and practice. This article offers a detailed curricular model for educating law students to take control of their future.

Neil W. Hamilton