This strand explores the role of identity and selfhood in the study and practice of law, asking what it means to teach and learn law without explicit attention to questions of identity. While traditional approaches to legal education have often prioritised doctrine and skills, growing interest from academics highlights the importance of recognising how students’ personal and professional identities shape their engagement with law, their sense of belonging in the classroom, and their development as future practitioners.
Research within this strand examines how law schools can create space for reflection on identity - whether shaped by culture, gender, race, class, sexuality, or other factors—and considers how these experiences intersect with the formation of professional identity in law. It investigates how legal professionalism is taught, modelled, and internalised, and what this means for the values and practices that students carry into the profession. By connecting identity to professionalism, this work asks how legal education can foster critically reflective, ethically aware graduates who are prepared not only for the technical demands of practice but also for the human, social, and cultural dimensions of professional life.
For more information, please contact Marilyn Freeman at [email protected], Avis Whyte at [email protected], Anna Chronopoulou at [email protected] or Marc Mason [email protected].