15 September 2024 www.loubar.org NKU Chase is Answering the Question: What Does it Mean to be a Lawyer? Northern Kentucky University Chase College of Law is doing more than teaching students how to be a lawyer, it is engaging them in what it means to be a lawyer. Through the David and Nancy Wolf Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity, endowed by alumnus David Wolf and his wife, Nancy, Chase is expanding its education and programming on lawyers’ responsibilities to society and the connections to substantive law. For students, that means opportunities through classes, clinics and activities for involvement in matters of ethics, professionalism, social justice, diversity and inclusion, pro bono work and public-interest service, and personal wellbeing. “The Wolf program emerged from David and Nancy Wolf’s belief that the legal profession can and should be a leader and role model for upstanding public service,” Dean Judith Daar explains. “With their support, our students can delve deeply into their professional identity formation journey, exploring how to best care for their clients and themselves in this high-stakes career path.” The journey students begin at Chase can continue in practice for decades. “Law schools in general, and Chase in particular,” says Wolf Chair Professor Jack Harrison, “are well-positioned to provide guidance, inspiration and instruction to enable future lawyers in the development of an ethical and professional view of their role in society in serving justice, fairness and truth throughout their legal careers.” For students, the integrated approach to what it means to be a lawyer involves: • Classroom work, including a new course on utilizing technology in pursuit of justice, the long-established foundational course of Professional Respon- sibility and some historical perspective. “The Artificial Intelligence, Technology and Social Justice course is designed to help students evaluate ways we can use AI and other technological tools to help to improve social justice and access-to-justice issues,” says Professor Michelle Browning Coughlin, who designed and teaches it. In the area of ethics and professionalism, Professional Responsibility focuses on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct for students to understand how everything they learn and do fits into what it means to be a lawyer. “I teach the course with a constant eye to the here and now. The class discussion is usually a real-time role-play in which students have to make decisions that are ideally as challenging as the ones faced by the lawyers in the case reading,” says Professor John Bickers. For historical understanding, Professor Jennifer Kinsley this past aca- demic year taught the inaugural course of Shedding Shackles: The Life & Legacy of Salmon P. Chase (the 19th century Cincinnati lawyer, U.S. Treasury Secretary and Chief Justice for whom the college is named). “The entire course was built around the concept of lawyers’ obligations to society. We discussed the historical work Chase did in that capacity and what shape that takes for lawyers in our community today,” she says. • Clinic opportunities that show the impact of law on individuals and society. “The Children’s Law Center Clinic does case work and policy work on children’s issues, through direct representation and community education and policy projects,” says Professor Amy Halbrook, as- sociate dean for experiential learning. In the Kentucky Innocence Project, one of five clinic programs at the college, students have pursued justice for individuals who, for various reasons, ended up being wrongfully convicted. In one application for clemency, students investigated the case of a man whose conviction and life sentence, the Innocence Project argues, was the result of systemic failures, and no fault of his own. • Multi-cultural experiences for relating to diverse clients. “Having cross-cultural skills is important for lawyers not only to be able to relate successfully with clients from different backgrounds, but also to be able to work toward eliminating discrimination and inequities in the law itself,” says Maria Llambi, assistant director of admissions and diversity initiatives. That development occurs in an annual Student Bar Association symposium on diversity and inclusion, in student organizations, and by being part of initiatives such as Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity and Chase All Rise, designed to allow students from diverse ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds to flourish within the student body. • Focuses on personal wellbeing to better cope with pressures of the profession (and of law school). “The world, including the practice of law, will throw us curveballs, obstacles and stressors, but if one practices wellbeing, then one becomes more resilient and can effectively manage these things without being undone by them,” says Student Affairs Director Ashley Siemer. To help students develop skills to cope with the pressures of law school and to prepare for those in practice, Chase created the Equilibrium student organization focused on wellness and added a wellbeing webpage to the college’s website. With a dual emphasis on doctrinal courses and what it means to be a lawyer, Chase students are preparing to practice, knowing that their careers will involve more than just knowing the law. Law Schools in the Bluegrass Pictured above: To help prepare for integrating aspects of professional iden- tity into a new academic year, Professors John Bickers, from left, Jack Har- rison and Michelle Browning Coughlin and Student Affairs Director Ashley Siemer joined faculty and staff from seven other law schools this past sum- mer in a workshop on professional identity formation, led by representatives of the Minneapolis-based University of St. Thomas School of Law Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership.
